By Saio Marrah
As the Sierra Leone Police reintroduces the old ranking system, the Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, who doubles as the Chairman of the Police Council, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh on Friday 17 September, 2021 decorated 46 senior officers, ranging from Assistant Commissioners, Commissioners and Assistant Inspector Generals of Police.
In his keynote address at the Police Officer’s Mess in Freetown, the Vice President congratulated the newly promoted senior officers into their “new endeavours and responsibilities”, asserting the police institution is going through what he described as “transformation”.
The vice president said the government was committed to improving policing and police activities in the country.
He pointed out that the government is undertaking strategic reforms within the police force not just to improve their professionalism, but also to improve their operational capacity, expand leadership training for the force as well as expanding the peacekeeping mission, which he said will also enhance their professional capacity upon their return home.
In his statement, the Inspector General of Police, Ambrose Michael Sovula, noted that the post war restructuring of the Police affected many aspects of the institution including the disestablishment of some of the ranks. He said that has not only affected the salary and skills of the force, but has also negatively affected the general morale of personnel. He noted that the increase in the organisational strength overtime coupled with calculated promotional schemes of university graduates and hardworking officers continue to strain the already congested senior cadre particularly between the ranks of Assistant Superintendent and AIG of the Police force.
IG Sovula said some of those young officers have served in those ranks for over six years and yet have more time to retire and that if not promoted to another ranks, will have to spend more than 11 years in the same rank before they retire.
He believed that has negatively impacted on the end of service benefits as it will not only be determined by the length of service one has served, but also according to one’s rank. He said those are some of the reasons they have decided to go back to the basics of the rank and file system.
The Police Chief noted that eight new ranks have been reintroduced to the former nine ranks that have now summed up to 17 ranks in all. He therefore admonished officers to serve with sincerity.
According to him, the reform matches with the Police ranking system in most English speaking countries and has freed up the space. “Today... you have in front of you senior officers that have just been promoted to various ranks including five AIGP, nine Commissioners of police, unfortunately we lost one yesterday...and 32 Assistant Commissioners of Police,” he noted.
Admonishing the newly promoted officers, he noted that they are set to command strategic positions and entreated them to uphold team work, honesty, consistency, decisiveness and problem-solving capability as attributes of transformational leadership.
He also encouraged them to support the vision of the force and what he described as the bigger picture by supporting the government’s Medium Term Development Plan, judiciously carrying out their mandate and values. IG Sovula said they are subordinates to the people they serve and should execute their job with fairness and loyalty to the government and the people of Sierra Leone. He also cautioned them to set standards.
The Head of Media and Public Relations of the Sierra Leone Police who was also promoted to Assistant Commissioner, Brima Kamara noted that promotions within the Sierra Leone Police have to do with qualification, experience, performance and discipline. He noted that due to the very few ranks they use to have in a force of about 14,000 personnel, one had to be stagnated for up to six to seven years before being promoted to another rank.
He said with the new ranking system, even though one has to go step by step, one can also be double promoted.
Copyright © Politico Online (20/09/21)
