WINDHOEK – The Namibian Police Force (Nampol) and the Windhoek City Police have rubbished allegations that they are not getting along.
This is after City Police officers alleged that the national police are refusing to accept City Police recruits at their training facility and that Nampol is unhappy with the manner in which the City Police poach skilled police officers from the national police. Both Nampol’s Inspector General, Lieutenant-General Sebastian Ndeitunga and City Police’s Chief Abraham Kanime told New Era that there is a sound working relationship between the two agencies when contacted yesterday. “In the past there were few elements within that made it look like the situation between us is not fine, but at this point in time, this is really news to me,” said Kanime. Ndeitunga said: “I am not too sure where this coming from, but as far as I am concerned we have been assisting them when it comes to training. I am sure these things are coming from some junior officers who are having attitude problems. When you have a group of people there will always be attitudes that are not official. Yes, there might be some of the members with attitudes, but these are not the official positions.”
“Sometimes we share the training costs, I do not think we ever had a problem when it comes to training. We are under pressure, because training facilities are not enough, but I do not remember them writing to me saying we are not accommodating them,” said Ndeitunga. Kanime said people promoting such talk are “just people who want to make a story out of nothing.”
“With regards to training facilities, we have been getting great support from the inspector general. Last year we wanted our traffic officers to be included for the training at Pius Kaundu Police Training College near Gobabis, but this could not be done, because Nampol’s number was already high,” he said. “Maybe we made the request too late. But we could not be granted an opportunity to send our members, because Nampol’s intake was high,” Kanime said. The situation was made worse by Nampol’s ever-decreasing number of traffic law enforcement personnel who are easily lured by the City Police which offers better remuneration packages.
“You have to understand that the number of Nampol traffic officers went down, as a result it was difficult for them to accommodate us last year,” Kanime explained.
The chief also indicated that one of the factors hampering the operations of the agency is the lack of training facilities. “As for those who are saying we are poaching the Nampol members, it is obvious that you must get people from somewhere. I can assure you that we do not recruit any constables from Nampol, because there is no point recruiting them while there are unemployed Namibians out there that can be trained,” he said. “But for other positions, apart from constable, we recruit anyone as long as they meet the requirements. Other local authorities and the Roads Authority also take our members, but we do not complain,” Kanime said. He also indicated that there is a Joint Selection Committee consisting of two officials each from the Namibian Defence Force, Namibia Correctional Services, Nampol and the Office of the President.
“I am acting under the inspector general, not by default but by design. We must understand that you have to get someone from somewhere, provided it is done in a proper manner,” he said.
The City Police force was established to complement the Namibian Police in areas such as crime prevention, law enforcement, traffic policing and enforcement of by-laws in the City of Windhoek jurisdiction.
By Mathias Haufiku