Written by Patience Nyangove
Thursday, 26 November 2009
NAMPOL has described last week’s statements by the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) that the security and law enforcement agencies require a complete overhaul because some police officers are partisan as very unfortunate.
Addressing a joint press conference last Thursday SPYL secretary, Dr Elijah Ngurare together with Evilastus Kaaronda, secretary general of NUNW said they bemoan the reactionary and individual tendencies of some police officers whose conduct is more political than doing the actual police work.
Ngurare said of late police resources were being wasted through meaningless escorts to some “political cry babies” everywhere.
“We cannot be fooled any longer that there is absolute impartiality in the police force. Put simply, the Police in the conduct of the forthcoming elections must be above board and do so with absolute impartiality and root out those bad elements in the Namibian Police who are tainting the good image of the Namibian Police. And we know them very well,” Ngurare said.
Police spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner Hofni Hamufungu said although Ngurare’s statements might have been directed at individual police officers, this may not augur well with the public’s image of the police. Hamufungu said the police force has an open door policy whereby its Police Inspector General and all its members have granted audiences to anyone who feels they are aggrieved. “We would therefore expect the SPYL and NUNW to take recourse through our normal channels of communication which they made use of in the past. It’s unfortunate to learn from the media that these are the allegations made by the two.”
Hamufungu said police are doing escorts as part of their legal obligation in terms of the law to protect life and property and they do this without looking at one’s colour, tribe, race, political inclination because it’s a statutory obligation trusted upon them by the Namibian nation.
“Nampol is guided solely by the legal instruments in its conduct and operations whenever and wherever we feel there is a potential threat for crime to occur we take preventative measures.
“Similarly where anyone makes themselves guilty by violating any of Namibia’s laws we effect arrest and we don’t ask for your political membership card. We arrest people for crimes they commit and not for who they are and that goes for the provision of escorts especially during this period of campaigning to those we feel might attract attacks or any other illegal hindrances,” Hamufungu said.
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