Junior officers lack discipline, says Oshana police commander

The commander of the police in the Oshana region, commissioner Lungameni Sakaria, says many lower-ranked police officers in the region cannot qualify for promotion because they lack discipline and do not show good conduct as police officers.

Speaking at a promotion parade at Oshakati on Thursday, Sakaria said many police officers cannot qualify for promotion as they have pending cases lodged against them by civilians due to alleged misconduct.

“It should also be known that all members can never be promoted at the same time, therefore those who are not considered now should continue working hard and improving themselves in order to be available for future promotion, but mostly to maintain discipline,” Sakaria said.

He continued: “My office is receiving so many issues related to conduct and discipline. Members are charged daily, especially those in lower ranks, both departmentally and criminally, and cases are taking too long to solve because some members do not want to cooperate with investigations.”

Sakaria urged police officers in Oshana to show good conduct at all times and avoid engaging in criminal activities.

“Upon assuming my duties as the regional commander, I found a high number of dockets pending for decision at the prosecutor general’s office or still under investigation at our police conduct and investigation sub-division, but we made it a priority to work on these cases and within a short period of time many cases received attention and got finalised,” he said.

A total of 460 police officers in the Oshana region have received higher ranks in the police’s latest round of promotions.

Of these, 229 are male and 231 are female officers.

Sixty police officers in the region were not considered for promotion due to various reasons, Sakaria said.