IT is no secret that the men and women in uniform, especially police officers, are some of the public service workers who have continued to operate under difficult conditions.
There has been notable lack of proper infrastructure, especially for police officers based in the rural parts of the country.
According to officers under this very important arm of Government, this state of affairs has made law and order enforcement a challenge in Zambia.
Some of the many challenges affecting the Police, and even Prisons Service, in ensuring law and order in many parts of the country are transport, equipment, uniforms and, most importantly, accommodation.
At one point, it was reported that police in Chiengi and Milenge districts in Luapula Province, for instance, were adversely affected by this problem, including office accommodation which had resulted into the police officers operating in an old building belonging to the Zambia Postal Services Corporation.
Some rural districts may have the structures alright. However, these are said to be in bad condition, making them unsuitable for habitation.
This was particularly true not so long ago in the newly-created district of Sikongo, Western Province, where it was reported that there were a number of houses in the police and immigration camps which were unoccupied because they were dilapidated.
By 2013, Sikongo police camp was said to have 43 houses with only 10 police officers while immigration had 12 houses with only two officers. The rest of the houses, so the nation was informed, required rehabilitation.
However, generally, what is common in many parts of the country is a lack of adequate housing to accommodate police officers, forcing especially those on transfer to stay in temporary accommodation for months after moving to their new bases.
A shortage of accommodation in particular has been so acute, and a source of concern, that the Government last year promised to mobilse funds outside the national Budget to construct more than 25,000 housing units for officers in all departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Then Home Affairs Minister Ngosa Simbyakula (now Minister of Justice) said the Government would ensure that all departments under his ministry had adequate housing units.
Dr Simbyakula told the media that the departments to benefit from this housing project would include the Zambia Police Service, Zambia Prisons Service and Immigration.
According to Dr Simbyakula, construction of the housing units would help lessen the accommodation crisis faced by the security wings countrywide.
The minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to providing good accommodation to these security wings, as well as all civil servants in the country.
It is now pleasing to note that this commitment is becoming a reality following the announcement yesterday by Home Affairs Minister Davis Mwila that construction of 3,000 housing units for security personnel in Zambia is expected to start in June this year.
According to Mr Mwila, these housing units would be under phase one of the project, which is aimed at building 10,000 houses for police and prisons officers in the country.
Of course even these housing units may not be enough considering that authorities intend to recruit more police officers from the current 16,000 to 27,000 by the year 2030.
But the fact that something is being done about the plight of police and prisons personnel is something to smile about. OPINION