Liberia: 400 policemen fired
2005-05-20 09:51
Monrovia - More disciplinary action is expected in Liberia to weed undisciplined and corrupt officers out of the national police force, said acting commissioner Joseph Kerkula on Thursday following the sacking this month of 400 officers.
"Any officer who fails to do things in cognisance of our guidelines will be dismissed," Kerkula said. "All the officers know about these guidelines so it is their primary duty to respect them."
Kerkula, himself a replacement for long time police chief Chris Massaquoi who was sacked in January for corruption, dismissed 400 officers on May 3 for "acts unbecoming police officers", according to a letter sent to the United Nations Mission in Liberia's (UNMIL) police chief.
Among the grievous acts were taking leaves of absence without permission and the unauthorised use of vehicles.
The sacked officers were lingering members of the old National Police Force, which under former President Charles Taylor became more of an agent of criminal behaviour than a safeguard against it.
Corruption was rampant, and police officers were known to have been involved in some of the war-related violence that strafed the capital Monrovia during the civil war ending in August 2003.
Under an extensive training programme mostly funded by the United States in conjunction with UNMIL, about 3nbsp;500 new officers are expected to be on the streets, many of them in time for elections set for October 11.
The new officers, a second class of whom is to be phased into rotation this month, will be held to an even higher standard of conduct, Kerkula said, in an attempt to wipe the force's reputation clean after years of abuse.
"The police have been criticised in past for not being professional in the discharge of duties," Kerkula said. "We will not tolerate that in our administration."