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Home / THE FEEDBACK: MINISTRY OF SAFETY AND SECURITY - NAMPOL
THE FEEDBACK: MINISTRY OF SAFETY AND SECURITY - NAMPOL
2016-11-08Staff Report 2 Query: Mr. President, under President Sam Nujoma the police convoys caused many accidents involving innocent people. Under President Hifikepunye Pohamba, you hardly ever heard a police siren. Now under your presidency, hell has broken loose again. Kindly stop this harassment of citizens. Response: On the basis of the above SMS and assertions made therein, the Namibian Police Force responds as follows: The Namibian Police Force has taken note of the assertions being made with regard to the presidential motorcade. However, the SMS is to a large extent vague and misleading, and it does not relate to a specific incident. Not only is the SMS misleading, it is also devoid of any truth. The current President of Namibia, His Excellency Dr. Hage Geingob only uses two Namibian Police Force escort vehicles without sirens, but only blue lights, and would observe and heed all traffic signs including stopping at the traffic lights when they are indicating red. The author of the SMS should have verified his or her facts before accusing the Namibian Police Force VIP escort of harassing Namibian citizens. The correct facts are that, the Presidential escort has been reduced to the minimum, and it rarely uses sirens or pushed citizens off from the road. However, it is an international practice for all citizens of any given country to yield and give right of way to any emergency and or VIP escort vehicles with sirens and emergency lights on, hence it usually only takes a few seconds before the road is again accessible to all road users, and citizens should be patient with that. On numerous occasions the Namibian Police Force has issued media statements requesting the public to change their attitudes towards VIP motorcades and or emergency vehicles with emergency lights and sirens on, in order to avoid unnecessary accidents as some motorists would refuse to give right of way to emergency vehicles and VIP motorcades, and instead resort to making offensive hand gestures and behaving in unbecoming manner. The Namibian Police Force once again appeal to motorist and road users to adhere to the traffic rules and give way when required to do so instead of resorting to use abusive hand gestures and refusing to yield. It is the appeal of the Namibian Police Force to all road users to obey traffic rules. If all road users observe our traffic rules, accidents would be avoided. • Acting Inspector-General Maj-General James B. Tjivikua, Office of the Inspector-General, Contact Number: 061- 209 3111, Namibian Police Force. 2016-11-08Staff Report 2
