Cops heavily in debt
Police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga says there is no money for fuel or rape kits, no protection from mosquitoes and no cars for police officers, who are mired in debt owed to micro-lenders.
The police chief, Lieutenant-General Sebastian Ndeitunga, yesterday gave President Hage Geingob a frank overview of the tragic state of affairs in the force.
According to him the police force has been crippled by cost-cutting measures introduced by the government.
Ndeitunga also told the president that N$40 million is deducted from police salaries every month to pay micro-lenders.
“The officers, they took loans from micro-lenders and this is deducted from their salaries. They took out the loans to pay for their needs. And this may even lead to people committing suicide,” he said.
Ndeitunga expressed concern over what he termed a “state of capture”, especially when one looks at the rate of corruption in the country.
The police chief emphasised that his staff are so stressed that they cannot even be joked with.
“They can even tell you, 'I do not eat patriotism, my family is hungry'. They are so stressed, when you joke with them you can see the stress on their faces,” he said.
Ndeitunga reminded the president that the police are voters too, especially border guards living in poor accommodation.
He added that budgets had been cut without proper consultation with the implementing officers.
As a result, there is no money for fuel or rape kits, no protection from mosquitoes and no cars for police officers.
He also pointed out that the Special Reserve Force, which must protect the nation in the event of emergencies such as terror attacks, are under-capacitated and in need of proper care, including food and danger allowances.
They also need proper training and the calibration of their equipment.
“Our helicopter pilots do not get flight allowances, which is an international standard,” he said.
The president attempted to interject and said senior officials had the right to allocate the available money to key areas.
However, Ndeitunga was undeterred and said, “many people do not know the inside of policing.”
According to Ndeitunga, there is no money for subsistence and travel allowances (S&Ts) when officers are expected to attend court cases.
He said the S&T budget had been diverted to essential areas such as investigation, which is the backbone of police work.
As a result, some police officers cannot attend court cases.
“Sometimes the High Court cases take two weeks. An officer is there without anything.”
Ndeitunga also lamented the fact that there is no money to send detectives and other specialists for refresher courses.
“We have big cases here of commercial crimes but we do not have proper capacity. We have Dr Paul Ludik here; if he goes today then we will have a problem at the laboratory.
“We are building a state-of-the-art laboratory here in Windhoek. When it is completed we will need proper equipment and scientists. And we will be one of the best in the region, but we need to train and capacitate our youth,” said Ndeitunga.
Ludik is the head of the National Forensic Science Institute, which falls under the police.
Budget
In the current financial year, the safety and security ministry was allocated N$5.2 billion, of which N$3.1 billion was for personnel expenditure. A staggering N$400 million is spent per year on VIP protection, while the critical forensic science services division receives about N$21 million annually.
Accommodation
Accommodation for police officers has been a crisis for many years.
Ndeitunga reminded the president that there was a serious need for proper police housing.
He suggested that all empty government buildings, such as the Ramatex complex, be turned into accommodation for police officers.
According to him the salaries of urban police officers are gobbled up by high rent.
Geingob said it was unacceptable that police officers lived in shacks and then had to guard ministers in their “palaces”.
“Next year I think we must start to do something. We have declared war against squatting at the second national land conference. Some police officers have to come from shacks,” he said.
Tribalism
Ndeitunga added that tribalism was a serious problem in the country and equally so in the police force, which prompted him to implement a quota system to ensure the equal representation of all tribes.
“People are so tribalist, which is why I have suggested that we set up a tribalism commission. I want someone to be taken to court and jailed for tribalism. It is becoming a security threat; it divides and discriminates against people. If we do not take serious steps, then we will become like other African countries,” he warned.
JEMIMA BEUKES
According to him the police force has been crippled by cost-cutting measures introduced by the government.
Ndeitunga also told the president that N$40 million is deducted from police salaries every month to pay micro-lenders.
“The officers, they took loans from micro-lenders and this is deducted from their salaries. They took out the loans to pay for their needs. And this may even lead to people committing suicide,” he said.
Ndeitunga expressed concern over what he termed a “state of capture”, especially when one looks at the rate of corruption in the country.
The police chief emphasised that his staff are so stressed that they cannot even be joked with.
“They can even tell you, 'I do not eat patriotism, my family is hungry'. They are so stressed, when you joke with them you can see the stress on their faces,” he said.
Ndeitunga reminded the president that the police are voters too, especially border guards living in poor accommodation.
He added that budgets had been cut without proper consultation with the implementing officers.
As a result, there is no money for fuel or rape kits, no protection from mosquitoes and no cars for police officers.
He also pointed out that the Special Reserve Force, which must protect the nation in the event of emergencies such as terror attacks, are under-capacitated and in need of proper care, including food and danger allowances.
They also need proper training and the calibration of their equipment.
“Our helicopter pilots do not get flight allowances, which is an international standard,” he said.
The president attempted to interject and said senior officials had the right to allocate the available money to key areas.
However, Ndeitunga was undeterred and said, “many people do not know the inside of policing.”
According to Ndeitunga, there is no money for subsistence and travel allowances (S&Ts) when officers are expected to attend court cases.
He said the S&T budget had been diverted to essential areas such as investigation, which is the backbone of police work.
As a result, some police officers cannot attend court cases.
“Sometimes the High Court cases take two weeks. An officer is there without anything.”
Ndeitunga also lamented the fact that there is no money to send detectives and other specialists for refresher courses.
“We have big cases here of commercial crimes but we do not have proper capacity. We have Dr Paul Ludik here; if he goes today then we will have a problem at the laboratory.
“We are building a state-of-the-art laboratory here in Windhoek. When it is completed we will need proper equipment and scientists. And we will be one of the best in the region, but we need to train and capacitate our youth,” said Ndeitunga.
Ludik is the head of the National Forensic Science Institute, which falls under the police.
Budget
In the current financial year, the safety and security ministry was allocated N$5.2 billion, of which N$3.1 billion was for personnel expenditure. A staggering N$400 million is spent per year on VIP protection, while the critical forensic science services division receives about N$21 million annually.
Accommodation
Accommodation for police officers has been a crisis for many years.
Ndeitunga reminded the president that there was a serious need for proper police housing.
He suggested that all empty government buildings, such as the Ramatex complex, be turned into accommodation for police officers.
According to him the salaries of urban police officers are gobbled up by high rent.
Geingob said it was unacceptable that police officers lived in shacks and then had to guard ministers in their “palaces”.
“Next year I think we must start to do something. We have declared war against squatting at the second national land conference. Some police officers have to come from shacks,” he said.
Tribalism
Ndeitunga added that tribalism was a serious problem in the country and equally so in the police force, which prompted him to implement a quota system to ensure the equal representation of all tribes.
“People are so tribalist, which is why I have suggested that we set up a tribalism commission. I want someone to be taken to court and jailed for tribalism. It is becoming a security threat; it divides and discriminates against people. If we do not take serious steps, then we will become like other African countries,” he warned.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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