By Kidega Livingstone
New police graduates are urged to be ready to maintain law and order during elections.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony of about 870 officers yesterday in Juba, President Salva Kiir Mayardit said the role of the police in ensuring the safety and security of citizens during the electoral process is crucial.
“We are going for an election, and when it comes, people who are going to have a lot of work are the police officers because they must provide security for civilians and the protection of the ballot and the ballot boxes,” he said.
President Kiir reminded the police officers of their responsibility to protect the population and their properties, enforce the law, and work professionally.
He encouraged them to fulfil their duties effectively in order to help move the country towards progress.
The President also expressed his confidence in the abilities of the police force and reinvigorated them to carry out their duties with integrity, and respect for human rights.
“We must work hard together so that we move ahead. Without this responsibility, nobody will remain behind; all of us will move together,” Kiir told the gathering yesterday.
“The police officers must be professional in their duties. Your duty in the enforcement of the law is to protect civilians and their properties. You can find a country without the National Army, but you cannot find a country without the police.”
In his part, Inspector General National Police Service, Gen. Atem Marol Biar, said the training and graduation of the police officers was the beginning of the transformation of the police as stipulated in the peace agreement signed in 2018.
“I have a plan to train all the police forces in all capacities and at all different levels. I have started with the higher ranks, but these are the middle-class people who graduated. There is no transformation without training. I am going to transform these police because training will allow them to crack down on the activities of criminals,” he said in a side interview with this publication.
“When I came as Inspector General of Police, the very bad police officers were the traffic, but as I talk to you, the excellent group of police are the traffic. I have changed them and transformed them; I actually completed their work.”
He said the 870 police officers who graduated have been waiting for a long time due to the peace agreement.
“These are the technical officers, and they are going to help a lot because they have been mobilized from all the areas of South Sudan, and the majority of them have bachelor’s degree holders, master’s degree holders, and secondary school holders. These are the real people who know how to write and speak; they will be deployed all over the country.”
He revealed that the South Sudan Police have completed the agreement with their counterpart in Rwanda for training the police officers in the country.
“We sent the senior officers to different countries in the region; twenty are going to Rwanda and Ethiopia, and then we shall send a very large number of operations to Rwanda for special training of the operation, he said.
Inspector General of the Rwanda National Police, Gen. Felix Namuhoranye, who also attended the training pledged to continue training more police officers.
“We know ourselves; we will join hands together to change the face of national police services the same way Rwanda Police managed to excel in the region after the genocide in 1994. They were trained by the region, and now they have gone ahead of those who trained them,” he said.