Narcotics chief urges govt, partners to fight drug woes

THE National Narcotics Bureau (NNB) has appealed to provincial governments and international partners to help the organisation in its fight against illicit drug problems.
Bureau director-general John Mapusa said in a statement there was a strong link between illicit drugs and the increase in social problems.
“Social ills such as prostitution, murder, rape, HIV/AIDS, child abuse, violence, teenage pregnancies, school drop-outs, lifestyle diseases and road fatalities to a greater degree are attributed to illicit drug use,” he said.
He said as captured in the bureau corporate and strategic plan, there was a need for a nationwide research to ascertain the extent and degree of illicit drugs problems and deploying staff to provinces was a priority that must be pursued until its realisation.
“However, the NNB is facing a daunting task of implementing these plans due to the ever chronic problem of lack of funds and logistical support.”
Mapusa said like all government agencies the NNB depended entirely on government support to fund its activities.
“The recurrent budget for NNB is K1.5 million which is used up entirely on salaries and payments of essential services like telephone, power, water and internet.”
He said there was so much the bureau wanted to do in terms of research, education, awareness and provision of logistics to deploy staff in provinces but funding constraints were major impediments.
“The government must consider increasing the annual appropriation for NNB to around K20 million for the organisation to effectively carry-out its mandated functions.”
Mapusa said an alternative option was to work with provincial governments willing to provide housing, office space and transportation while NNB would be responsible for salaries and other emoluments.
“International development partners should come to the aid of NNB and lend support to fight illicit drugs.”
Mapusa said a submission for K5 million was given to National Planning Department (NPD) early last year for funding under the public investment programme to facilitate the implementation of the nationwide research on drugs but there had been no response from the department.
“I urge the NPD to release the K5 million for NNB to conduct their research for the benefit of the nation,” Mapusa said.