Police force of these countries have high cases of human right abuse records.
However, in Africa, some countries’ police service excel in these attributes than others. For a government that thinks its police force will tackle all problems related to law and order as well as corruption.
Below is the list of the 5 countries in Africa where the police forces are extremely corrupt and brutal. Four of these five countries also ranked worst police service in the world in the latest World Internal Security and Police Index (WISPI).
Kenya
Kenya is one of the African countries whose police service is noted for prevalent problems of citizen brutality and widespread corruption. Protesters in the country are always at the mercy of the sticks and clubs of the country’s police force.
In the 2016/2017 WISPI report, Kenyan police force was ranked the worst in the world and was followed by Uganda and Nigeria.
Police in the country uses any means at its disposal to disperse protest, which has led to many deaths and unlawful detention especially when it is against the government.
South Africa
South Africa is widely known as the world capital of police brutality. In 2016 alone, there were 244 deaths and 124 rapes by men of police force in South Africa. More so, protest tends to be one of the most upsetting for the South African police and they adopt any available means to end it.
145 cases of police torture of protesters and innocent citizens were recorded in 2016 as well. It is also on record that the South African government budget cannot take care of the mountain of court cases against the police.
Nigeria
Nigeria Police Force (NPF), like its counterpart in Kenya and South Africa, is renowned for corruption and brutality. WISPI also confirmed that many cases of extra-judicial killings are hanging on the police service.
It is funny that brutality of men of NPF knows no bound, as men of other security outfits also share in this odes. A more recent case is the killing of two officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)
Uganda
Men of the Ugandan police force were noted to have no time on the use of pepper stick or water canner to disperse a protesting crowd. They simply go for the use of stick and electric wire to achieve their goals in record time.
In some cases, security forces summarily shot people dead and then dumped the bodies on river banks and in bushes. For instance, at least 100 people were killed and 139 others arrested in clashes between security agencies and palace guards in the western town of Kasese.
Congo DRC
The mixture of tense political environment and proneness to crisis made the Congolese police force one with a brutal feature.
For the country’s force, any attempt to breach public peace is met with stiffer measure and seen as a threat to the dictatorial rule of Joseph Kabila