ALLOW me space to air my views on the article that appeared in your esteemed newspaper in November 2014 titled, “Resignations cost police N$77 million annually.”
The first question the Police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga should answer is why are police officers resigning from the police force?
If he answers that question he must ask himself what will be the best solution to this burning issue.
As far as I am concerned and as far as the issue of the resignations is concerned, I believe there are a number of factors that are compelling members to leave the force, and the Police Inspector General and his top management know exactly what these factors are and they continuously keep ignoring them.
The first issue in question is the corrupt manner in which some people in the police force are promoted because it seems the powers that be only promote the people they know and not necessarily the people that work harder. Secondly, the issue of commanders that want to be feared and be praised like the way the congregation praises some almighty living god.
Our commanders treat their subordinates so badly. Directors in other ministries do not treat their subordinates as bad as in the police force, if the commander does not create a very conducive working environment do you think I will stay more especially when I am being mistreated and frustrated?
Thirdly, there is no one who would want to settle for less while there is a very nice offer elsewhere. I will obviously leave for greener pastures.
Gone are the days when we denied our rights and benefits.
If nothing is done to rectify this problem we will continue resigning from the police force.
Police officers are being headhunted by municipalities as well as private security companies because they value their skills and they offer them better packages unlike in the police force.
It is high time the police wake up and start to value its employees, if not, every frustrated officer will desert the police force and this will happen very soon. Having said that the police should come up with incentives and good strategies to prevent these resignations that have seen a massive brain drain.
Enough is enough, the police should improve our salaries and bring better working conditions and ensure all police officers are treated with respect.
We also want better housing and we want to further our studies so that in future we can live better lives.
In most cases when we tell our superiors that we want to go for further studies they usually discourage us saying there is no money but this seems strange because government budgets for this.
My advice to the Inspector General – he must take his team back to the drawing board and come up with better and productive policies with a better offer that will motivate members to be eager to work harder so the force becomes more interesting even those who wish to join the force in years to come.
Abed
A Windhoek resident