Multi-Choice Policing in Africa

Multi-Choice Policing in Africa Bruce Baker NORDISKA AFRIKAINSTITUTET, UppSALA 2008 Indexing terms: Police Conflicts Crime prevention Violence Safety Human security Social implications Africa south of Sahara Uganda Sierra Leone Cover photo: Bruce Baker A crowded street in Malakal, southern Sudan, with the police station in the background. Language checking: Elaine Almén Index: Margaret Binns ISBN 978-91-7106-603-9 © The author and Nordiska Afrikainstitutet 2008 Printed in Sweden by Elanders Gotab AB, Stockholm 2008 Contents 1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 5 2. The Genealogy and Analysis of Policing ……………… 10 3. Conflict, Crime and the Context of Policing in Africa ……………………………………………………………………… 31 4. The Historical Path of Policing in Africa …………… 50 5. Contemporary African Policing …………………………… 74 6. Who Is Policing Uganda? ………………………………………… 101 7. Who is Policing Sierra Leone? ………………………………… 131 8. Patterns of Multi-Choice Policing ………………………… 155 9. The Social and Political Implications …………………… 174 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………… 201 Acronyms …………………………………………………………………………… 219 Index ………………………………………………………………………………… 221 — C hap T E R 1 — Introduction Local actors can choose – to a certain extent – the insitution they approach to resolve problems… it is tempting … to refer to this as ‘institutional shopping’. (Bierschenk and de Sardan, 2003) Policing, in this book, is any organised activity, whether by the state or non-state groups, that seeks to ensure the maintenance of communal order, security and peace through elements of prevention, deterrence, investigation of breaches, and punishment. Its condition in Africa is largely un- known. Surprisingly, state policing has scarcely been researched in Africa outside of South Africa and there is an even greater dearth of studies on non-state policing. The neglect is all the more unexpected, given the large output of studies on democracy and good governance in Africa and the fact that non-state policing agencies are valuable assets for advancing safety and security among the poor. Policing is surely crucial to how citizens enjoy the freedoms of democracy and the protection of government, and how they view their government. This book sets out to redress the neglect. Based on extensive fieldwork in Africa, it offers an exploration of the nature and implications of state and non-state policing across sub-Saharan Africa and, in particular, closely examines the two states of Uganda and Sierra Leone.1 The account describes and explains the kaleidoscope of overlapping policing agencies that are for- mal and informal, legal and illegal, effective and inept, fair and partisan, restrained and brutal. The governance of policing is a contested terrain in which various nodes of governance bargain and negotiate with each other over the nature of the order to be established and the mechanisms for ac- complishing protection. Policing may be authorised by a variety of spon- sors: economic interests (both legal and illegal); residential communities; cultural communities; individuals; and governments. In terms of policing 1. The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (Award Reference: R000271293) and Coventry University. MULTI-CHOICE POLICING IN AFRIca provision, commercial companies, non-state authorisers of policing, individuals, and governments are all involved. Together these multiple authorisers and providers form a complex set of choices for Africans as they seek to negotiate a measure of protection from crime and abuse in their daily lives. A focus on government agencies can, and often does, direct attention away from the full range of governmental authorisers and providers that exists, particularly at the local level. There are advantages, instead, in focussing on the consumers of governance through a ‘multi-choice’ approach, which examines the choices citizens face from a variety of policing providers to meet differing security requirements. De- spite individuals’ economic and social constraints, there is a striking variety of policing alternatives available. Many academics have noted a diversification away from the state, but this is not the only change taking place. At times it is a diversification away from the state police but not from state policing for it is still within the influence and control of the state. The degree to which these patterns and relationships are dynamic, intri- cate and subtle can only be established by empirical research. I have sought, therefore, to ask Africans across the continent, ‘To whom do you look for protection from crime?’ and ‘To whom do you turn for investigation of crime?’ The answers have sometimes been surprising, but by this method I have begun to piece together the extent of policing agencies; the degree of state control over such policing bodies; and why individuals, groups (and even governments) turn to alternatives to state policing. The research has then led to my reflection on what the implications are of this fragmentation of policing and range of choice to citizens. I begin in Chapter 2 by tracing the genealogy of policing. The roots of African state policing are found in the history of policing in Europe, where policing concepts and practices were forged over centuries of state develop- ment, urbanisation and industrialisation, before being imposed on African nations. The historical survey reveals a picture of changing policing patterns to meet changing communal needs and a rich diversity of authorisers and providers of policing. The many paradigms that have been proposed to capture this diversity and complexity are then examined. These include neo-feudalism with its distinct separation between private and public or- ders of policing; ‘multilateral policing’ with its emphasis on the two distinct layers of diversity, namely auspices and providers of policing; and plural networked policing emphasising the relationship and co-operation between the diverse policing groups. I offer my own multi-choice policing Introduction that stresses the competitive and parallel alternatives that are available to citizens, offering different levels of service. To understand the policing solutions that have been chosen by Afri- cans, the current social context and the historical background need to be examined. Chapter 3 explores the context in which policing is required. Two shadows are cast over Africans today: the shadow of conflict and the shadow of crime. Nearly a fifth of Africa’s people live in countries dis- rupted by wars and civil unrest. Further, Africa is currently viewed as the most violent continent on the basis of crime victimization rates. Wars and victimization are manifestations of marginalisation, impoverishment and relative deprivation. Hence, though the violence of war may cease, violence itself may simply transmute itself from the political to the criminal. Both are products of the same fractured societies. Understanding in more detail what those underlying factors of violence and crime are explains the nature of the policing that has developed to counter them. The factors examined in the chapter are material poverty and social inequality; youth marginalisation; political transition; liberalisation and globalisation; urbanisation; availability of weapons; inadequate state criminal justice systems; and the crisis of informal social control. Chapter 4 turns to the historical background. The enduring traditions, colonial impositions, autocratic oppressions and commercial exploitations that have swept across Africa have played a major role in shaping the contemporary policing responses. The chapter explains the paths followed with respect to the authorisers and providers of policing from pre-colonial days to the 1980s. The details of how policing was organised by pre-colonial governments are not altogether clear, but it can be shown that in the early phases of European domination commercial interests acted with little su- pervision and were quick to resort to force to achieve their ends. It was under colonial rule that centrally controlled regime policing established itself. Yet though colonial states were authoritarian regimes, with police being given a repressive role, they were often weak structures and the colonial state by no means had a monopoly of policing. It is evident that, for the average African, colonialism did little to relieve them from the prevail- ing violence, and fear of violence from criminal elements, ethnic disputes and religious conflicts. With independence there were expectations that the police would be reorganised and re-orientated from regime policing to a force committed to serving the people. Instead, as the chapter demon- strates, little changed. Policing remained militarised and, due to the inse- curity of the regimes, was kept weak, fragmented, dependent and with an 7 MULTI-CHOICE POLICING IN AFRIca uncertain future, through under-funding. In areas outside the main towns, meanwhile, traditional procedures of policing and social control continued largely untouched. With the background and context provided, Chapter 5 turns to contemporary African policing patterns. The perceptions of failing state police and rising crime have created a situation today where a plethora of non- state policing groups have emerged across sub-Saharan Africa. Some adhere to the law and have police support, some are lawless and violent in their assault on crime; some are spontaneous, short lived or evolving, some are more permanent commercial enterprises. They are authorised

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