Sheya said this on Friday last week at Opuwo during his state of the region address.
The governor said the cells are overcrowded, particularly at Opuwo, Khorixas and Outjo police stations.
He said despite the complex challenge of high crimes in the region, it is laudable that the security situation in the region is under control.
However, Popular Democratic Movement member of parliament Inna Hengari on Thursday questioned the deputy minister of home affairs, safety and security Daniel Kashikola on what the ministry is doing about the situation of overcrowded cells.
“Kunene region police holding cells are overcrowded, according to the regional commander. Those with major offences and those with minor offences are thrown together in one cell. What are you doing about it?” Hengari asked.
Kashikola told the National Assembly that overcrowding in police cells is not only of concern in Kunene but countrywide.
The minister, however, said there is little the ministry can do because of financial constraints.
“You have noticed that wherever we build police facilities, we have additional cells to reduce overcrowding,” Kashikola said.
He added that nobody is happy with the overcrowded cells and the public must not think that they are happy about it.
“If a person is arrested for a suspected crime then he/she is taken in. This is never in our control because, as a ministry, we do not invite people to commit crime,” he said.
Kashikola said soon after a suspect appears in court, he/she is transferred from the police cells into the remand facility.
“One of the solutions to overcrowding is the construction of remand facilities. However, we are unable to do it now because of limited financial resources,” he said.
“We can only address the problem when we have sufficient funds to erect additional facilities,” Kashikola added.
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