Junior BPS Officers Decry High Phone Bills
Pini Bothoko | Monday September 21, 2020 16:43
Only officers who hold positions of assistant station commanders and above have telephones in their offices whilst the rest use the same line at the Botswana Police Service (BPS).
It is alleged that this month some officers had sums as high as P500, P400 and P300 deducted towards their telephone bills, something they were not pleased with.
The dejected officers raised their concerns in an interview stating they have been silent over the issue for years for fear of victimisation.
The officers allege they have been ordered to contribute P50 per month as their monthly telephone bills contribution despite having not used the phone line.
However, some police officers claim to be held hostage by the order, which service is designed to rip them off of their hard earned money. A few months ago, officers and soldiers were allegedly forced to contribute to the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
Despite the allegation, the disciplined forces have dismissed the reports, arguing the move was voluntary and not mandatory for officer who contributed.
While official reports point to the contribution being voluntary, the officers say they knew in their ‘law enforcement’ context, ‘an order is an order’ hence they felt forced to contribute to the fund.
The officers feel they are being oppressed because their superiors know that they cannot complain because they will be victimised.
“Cash is deducted from our accounts as telephone bills regardless if one used the phone. It is not like we do not want to contribute for the bill, but it should be [done] fairly. Imagine when an officer has been away on a trip for three months and at month they have a phone bill deduction from their account, as telephone bill contribution [in spite of not having usage]. It is not fair, we are being oppressed,” one officer told The Monitor.
The concerned officers argued the deductions should only be made for those who have used the phone and should not be applied indiscriminately.
They disclosed to have on several occasions pleaded with their superiors to find a way that they could track each and every officer’s telephone usage, but their pleas have since fallen on deaf ears.
The officers added, they once asked for registry of use whenever an officer wants to use a telephone or at least provide a pin that could monitor each and every officer’s individual calls.
“Usually they target our December salaries, but this month it appears they targeted the six percent salary increment. I am saying so because most of the officers’ deductions were a little bit higher than the usual deduction, but it is not fair because that money was budgeted for. They will end up saying police officers are corrupt whilst it is not the case,” the concerned officer said.
BPS public relations officer, assistant commissioner Dipheko Motube declined to comment saying it was an administrative matter.
Motube stated that there were various ways to address the officers’ concerns adding that involving the media was not one of them.