The horse’s mouth tells me what I knew already
October 8th, 2007
A recent conversation with a policeman only confirmed what I already knew.
In this conversation I was told that the police have no choice but to be corrupt. They are earning a paltry $3 million and clearing $2,3 million – after more than 5 years of service.
This policeman currently receives $500 000 for transport (one trip in a chovva (taxi) is now $200 000) and $500 000 for housing (average rent for a 2 bedroom flat is now $3 million). With increased price controls now being put in place, a bar of laundry soap now officially costs $900 000.
The police have the major benefit of being able to jump queues, arriving in large groups to enforce their will, when essential commodities arrive in the supermarkets.
Very often supermarket employees phone their family and friends when they know commodities are going on the shelves. Their relatives then queue in sanitary lanes behind the shop, but I’m told that’s how the police work out that the goods are in. They then arrive and clear the queue, forcing them to line up at the front entrance, where the police take prime front position, buy the goods and resell on the black market.
