Oshana police chief urges competency-driven promotions, not based on gender

Oshana police commander commissioner Naftal Sakaria has told police officers to prove their competency because they will not be wheelbarrowed into positions based on their gender.

Sakaria said this at the Oshana Namibian Police women’s network workshop at Ongwediva yesterday.

“I want women to position themselves in a manner that it is not difficult to appoint you in a position. Because we are not going to do these things to say ‘because this one is a woman’. No. You are all police officers. We are looking at competence,” Sakaria said.

“We are aware that we have to have a consideration of gender in terms of filling positions and so on, but you have to be competent. We are not going to wheelbarrow. You all have the same training with men. It’s the same thing. All you do is to work, position yourself and make yourself available. We will do the rest.”

Sakaria also urged senior police officers in the region to identify police officers who have been in the same rank for long, or long-serving police officers who hold junior ranks, to be recommended for promotions.

He said he recently heard of someone who retired as a sergeant.

“I say we can do better. We don’t want people to go on retirement as sergeants. We must look at people that have few years left – they have probably been in the force for long. We must be able to make submissions to make sure that these people are considered for promotions. To thank them for their service,” Sakaria said.

He noted that about 60% of police officers promoted last year were women.

However, he said while female police officers are at times accused of not offering good service by members of the public, the number of male police officers arrested in the region for various crimes, including corruption, exceeded that of their female counterparts.

Speaking at the same event, deputy commissioner Ndafudha Iifo advised women officers who want to achieve success in their daily activities to remain competent and committed.

“Therefore, we need to re-adjust our mindset towards crime prevention,” Iifo said.