GOVT WILL NOT FILL 550 COP POSTS – PM
MBABANE – Government will not be filling the 550 existing posts within the police service.
This was said by the Prime Minister (PM) Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, in written responses tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday.
Last week, Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo had suggested that there should be filling of the 550 available vacant posts, which arose through attrition factors, regardless of the prevailing economic situation.
He posed this question despite the fact that government issued a circular freezing all hiring within government without the approval of Cabinet.
The PM reiterated that the issue of recruitment in government had been temporarily suspended on account of budgetary constraints.
He said be that as it may, government would monitor the staffing levels in the police service to ensure that service delivery was not compromised.
Meanwhile, Hosea MP Mduduzi Mabuza asked the PM whether the recruitment of police officers was fair and transparent as they had witnessed situations where police relatives or children had the advantage of being recruited over other applicants.
The PM said the recruitment was conducted in a fair and transparent manner and every qualifying liSwati citizen was eligible to apply and be enlisted, whether related to Police Officer or not. “The Honorable House must be aware that this question has been raised numerous times in this August House in previous Parliamentary sessions,” said the PM.
He said as per their recommendations, selection was now done in the four Regional Headquarters and recruitment was such that it was from all regions and Tinkhundla.
“Suffice to mention that, the organisation is in a process of reviewing its Recruitment Policy to align it with the newly-promulgated Police Act as well as making sure that it is relevant to the aspirations of the citizens,” said Dlamini.
Meanwhile, the MPs asked why some officers in the police service, who were due for retirement, were given extended contracts.
Comments (0 posted):