By SulaymanWaan
Police have started recalling regional governors’ orderlies to be replaced by charge officers, The Voice has been reliably informed.
According to a source, the PIU commissioner has called on all orderlies to return to the PIU headquarter immediately so that they would be replaced with charge officers. But some regional governors have insisted that their orderlies will stay.
“Despite some regional governors persistence that their orderlies will be maintained, the source said currently the PIU commissioner is threatening guards to return to headquarter or their salaries be seized,” the source said
However, the source revealed that the orderly for the West Coast Region governor has already reported back to the PIU headquarter and a charge officer has replaced him but orderlies of other regional governors are still in their respective workplaces.
The source of this information said police authorities want to redeploy regional governors’ orderlies because the PIU is facing a shortage of officers to execute their functions due to the moratorium on recruitment since the Security Sector Reform commenced.
“So they want the regional governor’s orderlies to return so that they would increase them on their daily duties,” the source said.
“The transaction on redeploying the regional governors’ orderlies remained futile at the moment. Because some governors insist that their orderlies will be maintained,” the source reiterated.
Speaking further, the insider said neither the orderlies nor the regional governors receive formal communication from top police officials regarding the redeployment.
“In normal circumstances, the police authorities should write to orderlies formally and inform the regional governors. Because the orderlies cannot just leave the governors without protection and return to headquarter,” the source said.
The source said The Gambia Police Force has recently organized two weeks of training for some charge officers on VIP protection at the PIU headquarters so as to guard the regional governors efficiently.
“Following the two-week training, the PIU commissioner want to give the charged officer PIU gears to replace the regional governors’ orderlies,” the source said.
When contacted for comments, Police spokesman, SP Lamin Njie said, he does not have information concerning the redeployment. On a subsequent call by the reporter, he said, he has made administrative consultation with concern police authorities but he receives no feedback. The Voice will follow any development on this matter to update its readers.
