By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Sierra Leone Police, under the leadership of Inspector General of Police, Ambrose Michael Sovula, is on the verge of restructuring the ranking structure in the force.
Sovula said he is restoring 10 ranks removed between 1999 and 2003, bringing the total to 19.
The police boss made the disclosure in an address to a group of officers from the Operations Support Division (OSD) at their headquarters in Freetown on Monday.
The OSD is the armed wing of the Sierra Leone Police. Sovula discussed a wide range of issues with the men and women. But he said the main purpose was to inform them about the planned restoration of the discarded ranks.
The IGP said a process of reviewing the proposal had gone through the Police Council and that it was now with Cabinet for approval and onwards submission to parliament to be passed into law.
The police rankings were constricted by one of Sovula’s predecessors as part an effort to prevent overlapping of functions. But Sovula said over the years, this has affected the flow of promotion within the force, thereby rendering it “boring” and “unattractive” for many young people.
“Our predecessor collapsed our ranks from 19 to nine, which has made promotion to happen after one or two years and if that happens, somebody that has worked for two, three, four years without promotion will become bored,” he said, adding that he has felt what that means for a personnel as he had been in one position for over 13 years.
“You heard my introduction that I was in one position for 13 years. During those 13 years, some people thought my title, Couple, was part of my name. So even when I have become IG, somebody called me from London and called me Corporal Sovula. I had to tell him that was just a title, but because I took long years in the rank, it became synonymous to my name. So you can imagine how much bored I was but I endured,” he said.
He called on other personnel to be patient and persevere if they happen to be in his position, noting that there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Sovula also assured that his administration will ensure that officers are not stuck in one position and their welfare issues are treated seriously as long as they continue to work hard and in the interest of the nation.
“We have tried to redo the ranking system again by expanding it even if not up to 19 but to a compromising status that would be tied up to the grading system, because these ranks are tied to a grade and you have observed that we have been disadvantaged in terms of salary scale because most of our positions that have been left out are not tied to the grade,” he said.
The 19 ranks, according to the Police Media and Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Brima Kamara, are: Recruit, Constable, Corporal, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, Sub-inspector, Inspector, Chief Inspector, Cadet, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Deputy Superintendent, Superintendent, Chief Superintendent, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Senior Assistant Commissioner, Commissioner, Deputy Inspector General, and Inspector General.
Superintendent Kamara said the collapsing of the ranks created a lot of issues in the force as most people at that time were demoted, although it didn’t affect anybody’s salary at the time.
“Over time that one has been creating a lot of problems. We had what we called stagnation. Quickly people could reach certain ranks when they have more years in the police, but you cannot continue to promote them. So if you have to go through the 19 ranks, by the time you are within the age of 56, 57, you might be at the rank of Deputy Inspector General or Commissioner and then if you are lucky enough you could become IG. If you become IG, you will spend two or three years before retirement. But we had people like the former Inspector General, Brima Acha Kamara, spent seven years as IG, whiles others were waiting for that same seat. He could have spent 11 years if they were going to wait for him to reach 60 years. And then Munu came. He spent seven years,” the Police spokesman explained.
In his statement, the Director of OSD, Francis Moses Tower, assured the IGP of their willingness and appreciation of the review process. He added that they will continue to work hard in order to see the IG succeeds.
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