Police fault banks on security order

Commercial banks in the city seem to have ignored an order by the police which required them to employ law enforcers to man all financial facilities in the city.

The decision to let the police take charge of security at financial institutions was announced by the Dar es Salaam police special zone commissioner Suleiman Kova last month after a series of robberies rocked banks in the city centre and Kariakoo.

Mr Kova had ordered bank managers to contact the police to ensure the law enforcers started manning banks immediately without waiting for legal and payment contracts.

But a random survey  has found that most of the non-government owned banks in the city centre and Kariakoo are not guarded by the Police Force.

The Human Resources and Administration chief for the Dar es Salaam Police Special zone, deputy commissioner of Police Ally Mlege, said the police were ready to start guarding banks any time as directed by Mr Kova.

“We are ready to guard the banks whether they pay us or not. So, it is up to the banks’ managements to say why they are not contacting the police,” he said.

Efforts to talk to bank managers and officials of the Tanzania Bankers Association on the issue proved futile as many of them were not available to comment on the matter.

Mr Ambrose Mshala, the head of Corporate Affairs at Bank M Tanzania Limited, told  through a phone message that the paper should talk to the police since they are the ones who introduced the initiative.

On August 29, a group of people entered Habib Bank at Karikoo and grabbed almost Sh1 billion and one month later another gang made away with Sh150 million at I&M Bank at the city centre.

The approach of the attack by the robbers was similar, a move that sparked intervention from the Police to introduce the initiative meant to ensure that all the banks in the city were well guarded.