Saturday, February 03, 2007

To survive the first change we need is proper law and order. At present politicians, civil servants, judges and relatives therof cannot be arrested or charged. A politician should have immunity for anything he says inside the parliament but definitely not for rape or murder. If a politician were to shoot another of his ilk inside the Houses of Parliament he should still face prosecution as anybody else. Police must be made independent of political interference but answerable to the people. Police salaries, accommodation and medical benefits must be equivalent to those enjoyed by the army. However a special force much like Internal Affairs would investigate the police for every complaint and rogue officers severely punished. State of the art forensic labs must be set up for every police force. Traffic police, criminal division and armed police must be separated. Experts, if necessary, from foreign forces must be brought in to train them. Most importantly they must be trained in manners and to treat everyone with respect and not with abuse and violence as they do now. Civil servants probably cause more damage to us than any other part of the government. They have enormous powers, there are vast numbers of them making it impossible to pinpoint the crooks and their jobs are permanent. They have to be made accountable. They must answer every application or letter within a finite period, say a week. They must approve every application promptly or give valid reasons for refusal. This will reduce opportunities for harassment and bribes. Only one or two persons must handle each file so that crooks will be easily identified and punished. Punishment must be severe including sacking and withdrawal of pensions. Retired officers must be equally punished and guilty officers must be made to pay heavy compensation. We desperately need freedom from the everyday torture from civil servants.

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