Ministry to assess debts govt owes police

Dar es Salaam. The Ministry of Home Affairs is conducting an assessment to establish the debts owed to members of the Police Force in the country.

Like teachers, the government owe policemen in the country unpaid bills, the minister for Home Affairs, Mr Mwigulu Nchemba, said in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

Speaking during Kinondoni Police Day celebrations held at Leaders Club, Mr Mwigulu noted that the debts were one of the major factors, which demoralised police officers in the country and his ministry was determined to resolve the problems to give law enforcers a friendly working environment.

He acknowledged that there were a lot of police officers, who had not been paid their dues after being promoted.

“In some cases, there are police officers, who are supposed to be paid housing allowance because they don’t live in designated quarters, but they have not been paid for many years. We are conducting this assessment to establish the amount, which the government owes them,” he said.

He noted that law enforcers had been performing their duties diligently because they were following orders from their bosses, but most of them had pending issues with their employer.

“They are incentives, which they don’t get for many years. The ministry has taken note of this and we are working on the problem,” he said, noting that another problem, which affected operations of the Police Force was a shortage of accommodation for its personnel.

He said he had visited more than 25 regions and discovered there were many police officers, who were not only living in harrowing houses, but also were not remunerated accordingly.

“I am yet to visit Singida, Songwe, Njombe, Ruvuma and Dar es Salaam before we sit down and analyse what I have learnt during the visits. But what I can say is that we need change to ensure our commanders are motivated more because what they are doing is exceptional.

“It is sad how we still use some of the systems put up during the colonial era… we can’t allow our police to live like we are still in those times,” he insisted.