Chairperson of the Botswana Defence Force Retired members Association Retired Major General Pius Mokgware has urged the government to consider consolidating existing inter-agencies into one security force.
Mokgware dished out free advice recently when addressing the media on the increase of crime such as recent incidents of cash in transit heists and robberies among others.
He said that as the association, Botswana Defence Force Retired members have made their own assessment and realised that there was a need for Directorate called Home Land Security.
“There is a need for government to put a lot of effort in security management. The issue of joint operations where soldiers assist police officers will not work in this era because clearly there is a gap in our security management effort. Every agency works according to their act and this will kill competition between them as well as bringing resources together to cut the budget. Military retirees possess a wealth of knowledge and skills, which can be useful to government in addressing security challenges,” said Mokgware.
The association Deputy Chair, Retired Brigadier Nico Dikobe said they provide specialised security services, which include escort of valuable assets like diamonds and cash in transit. They also provide private investigations especially for crimes such as fraud.
“We have a school where we offer security management courses and security companies can bring their officers for relevant training. There are high cases of crime and that might be due to high unemployment rate and disgruntlement due to low wages or poor working environment. There is transnational organised crime because of lack of security at our borders and in the current incidents; there are some foreign nationals who team up with Batswana to commit crime. They are often found with unlicensed guns from other countries because of little if any surveillance,” said Dikobe
He went on to note that local security companies do not offer proper training to their staff and that some of the heist have been found to be inside jobs.
“ As an association, we can be engaged to try and close the gap by providing security skills and experience to serve this country,”Dikole said.
I am of that idea because of late people live in fear because many times we have lost our valuables to the thieves and they go on unnoticed. I wish the Ministry concerned will buy the idea. It should be understood that people get trained for specific assignment and then are able to perform to the tasks.
Thank you