Investigation mounted by this press has shown that for the past three months, police high command has refused to pay Hazard allowances to police officers deployed at quarantined homes. The non-payment of the allowances has compelled police officers threatening to quit their various areas of deployment.
The threats come at a time the country records high number of Corona Virus cases compounded by the outbreak of Ebola Virus in neighbouring Guinea.
Like Ebola, Corona Virus remains the most contagious and deadly virus known to mankind.
Most, if not all, have expressed their desire to do their routine duties in police stations and other postings than to languish in quarantined homes. An Police officer in the Operations Support Division (OSD), the armed wing of the police (name withheld), told this press that since November last year they had received no allowance from their bosses.
What frustrates them most, they said, they were supposed to receive Le1, 600, 000 (One Million Six Hundred Thousand Leones) per month but they were paid only Le9, 000, 000 (Nine Hundred Thousand Leones).
“To get the Nine Hundred Thousand Leones again is a big tussle,” they complained.
Apart from non-payment of Hazard allowances, police officers also were not supplied the necessary logistics and other welfare needs that would make them stay at quarantine homes. It was clear during site investigations that police officers lack personal protective gears to keep them safe from the virus.
The refusal to supply PPE’s to police officers in quarantined homes renders them vulnerable to the virus. The investigation also showed that food, the most basic of all needs was not supplied to the officers. The dangerous and arid situation made officers in quarantine homes officer to depend on the inmates for food.
Those police officers who could not help themselves with food prepared by the inmates had cause to quit their deployment areas in search of food.
The search for loaves by police officers is a great opportunity inmates exploit at their advantage. In the absence of police officers, the inmates escape from quarantined homes for other communities.
Since food and other allowances are not forthcoming, police officers in quarantined facilities accept petty bribes from inmates for free movement. Unchecked movements of inmates from their homes to other communities increase the likelihood for the transmission of the virus.
Another Police officer also explained the extent to which they had been suffering in their various areas of deployment. He told this press that had spent almost a week at his quarantined centre with no food and money to take care of himself.
He told this press that he had no alternative but to accept food prepared by inmates to survive. When asked whether their authorities were aware of the situation, the police officers replied in the affirmative. The other side of police officers’ frustrations and grumblings is the difference in treatment offered to army personnel.
The police officers told this press that supplies and allowances for their security counterparts run normal while theirs stumbled along the way. Although the affected police officers have not left, low morale is clearly evident, as they embark on a go-slow.
A very senior police officer in the rank of Assistant Inspector-General has been accused of holding on to the allowances.
The officer could not be reached for comments. Strikes and threats are not uncommon in quarantined homes since the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease.
Police officers as well as inmates have always complained that their welfare needs are not met. Quite recently, police officers also issued similar threats to quit quarantine homes since hazard allowances were never paid. Fighting pandemics or epidemics always require the assistance of security personnel.
Their role is to ensure that inmates are restrained and made to obey the law. So be it in the fight against Corona Virus Disease which is slowly taking death toll among Sierra Leone’s population. The campaign against the virus became a heated one when the country recorded an index case of COVID-19 in March, last year.
Outbreak of the virus made government to allocate funds to the campaign against the virus as well as other funds donated by development partners. Part of these funds is used in the procurement of PPE’s and payment of hazard allowances to security personnel and health workers.
But, complaints received by police officers have shown that money allocated is not used for its intended purpose.
Police and military officers have always been deployed at quarantined homes to help in the campaign against the virus. In the process of securing quarantine centres, police personnel run a risk of contracting the virus making a strong case for the timely payment of hazard allowances to them.
Apart from the current pandemic, the country faces a real threat of another Ebola outbreak, a situation that has caused a new panic among the public.
In light of the new threat, the public calls on police high command to pay backlog allowances of police officers and to also pay them on time in coming months. The move will encourage police officers to diligently guard quarantine homes to keep the country safe from the virus.
The public’s anxious call for speedy payment allowances to the security personnel may not be unconnected to the dangers inherent in Ebola virus.
It is hoped that police officers would take the bull by the horn they are well motivated. Whether police management would respond positively to the suffering of police officers in quarantined homes is a wait-and-see affair.
See next publication