By Pemphero Malimba:
The Police Service Commission has promoted 894 police officers across the country to their next ranks effective May 14 2024.
Malawi Police Service (MPS) spokesperson Peter Kalaya confirmed the development.
He said the promotions were done after commissioners met between May 3 and 5 2024.
Kalaya said out of the figure, 643 are senior police officers while 251 are junior officers.
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“This fills the vacancies that have been existing in the service for the past four years,” Kalaya said.
According to Kalaya, the promotions include 10 officers who have been promoted from the rank of assistant commissioner of police to deputy commissioner of police, 10 others from the rank of senior superintendent to assistant commissioner of police.
He said the development would help motivate police officers to provide quality services to Malawians and residents of Malawi.
“This will motivate all police officers not just those that have been promoted and, as for Malawians, they should expect a happy and motivated Malawi Police Service where those officers will be dedicated to duty,” he said.
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He said other police officers should not lose hope but continue working hard.
“We cannot expect that all officers in the Malawi Police Service can be promoted at once. As such, those that have not been promoted should not lose heart,” he said.
Meanwhile, security expert Aubrey Kabisala has said the promotions are an encouraging story to Malawi.
“Since promotions come with new salaries, new benefits, new responsibilities and prestige, the expectation is that those that have been promoted have been motivated and that should translate into improved service delivery,” Kabisala said.
He, however, said there was a need to tread carefully on the issue of promotions.
“We also need to be aware that promotions do also result in demotivation among those that have not been considered and the net effect of one round of promotions may not be quickly celebrated until the analysis has been done.
“In the past, different government ministries, departments and agencies have done mass promotions and these have also produced frustration among those that were left out and the net effect of the promotions tended to be minimal.
“Malawians expect optimum and quality service from all public institutions at all times without making reference to promotions or not,” Kabisala said.
There are over 19,000 police officers in the country.
