Police defends investigating itself

Acting Inspector General Anne-Marie Nainda of the Namibian Police has defended the force’s internal system for investigating allegations of misconduct against its own officers, amid calls by Ombudsman Basilius Dyakugha for an independent body to investigate police conduct.Nainda said safeguards are in place to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure that investigations are conducted objectively.She said the Police Conduct and Investigation Directorate, although housed within the police, has sufficient safeguards to investigate both criminal complaints against officers and departmental disciplinary matters.Dyakugha, speaking on NTV’s The Agenda talk show, called for an independent body to investigate police conduct, arguing that allegations against police officers should not necessarily be handled from within the same institution.In neighbouring South Africa, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) operates independently of the South African Police Service (SAPS). Its mandate includes conducting independent and impartial investigations into specified criminal offences and misconduct involving SAPS and municipal police officers.Dyakugha said establishing a similar mechanism in Namibia would require policy intervention by the executive and lawmakers, but maintained that the inspector general could initiate the process by proposing amendments to the Police Act.“The suggestion to amend the Police Act can come from the inspector general,” Dyakugha said, adding that police leadership should initiate the discussion if it believes changes are necessary.Nainda, however, said the current system already contains measures intended to minimise the possibility of officers investigating colleagues with whom they may have a conflict of interest.She said the inspector general considers the nature of a complaint and the ranks of the officers involved before deciding who should conduct an investigation.This can include appointing investigators from outside the region where the alleged misconduct occurred.“If there is a case in Omusati region and the police officers of Omusati are involved, the Inspector General will then appoint an independent [investigator] from another region,” Nainda said.She said investigators could be drawn from another region, or from a combination of regions, particularly in serious cases.According to Nainda, the arrangement is intended to reduce the possibility of officers protecting colleagues within the same region or unit.She also pointed to an additional review mechanism, saying the directorate responsible for conducting an investigation does not review its own work.“The legal directorate does the review,” she said.Nainda said this provides another layer of scrutiny over investigations conducted by the Police Conduct and Investigation Directorate.She said cases could then proceed through further levels of police administration, including the deputy inspector general of administration and the deputy inspector general of operations.“There are safeguards that we built in,” Nainda said.Nainda said the police had not encountered problems with the current arrangement that would justify replacing it with an external investigative mechanism at this stage.She also stressed that the Police Conduct and Investigation Directorate is accessible to members of the public, with units decentralised across all 14 regions.Members of the public can lodge complaints against police officers or provide information about alleged corruption and other conduct that may fall outside the law, she said.The police’s own customer service information confirms that the directorate investigates criminal cases, allegations and misconduct involving police officers and provides for complaints to be escalated through senior police management and, ultimately, to the Ombudsman.

Police defends investigating itself

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-28

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Police defends investigating itself

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-28

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