- First Batch Of 100 Officers To Be Trained In Three Months
By Hope Nda
The National School of Local Administration, NASLA, based in Buea, has been officially handed the mantle of training all municipal police officers in Cameroon – a training that will last three months per session.
The Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development, Georges Elanga Obam, was at the school campus on Wednesday, July 10, to officially commission the training as well as inaugurate a new administrative block at the school.
The first batch of trainees – 100 in number – is drawn from Municipal Police corps across the country and will be lodged and trained for three months at the National School of Penitentiary Administration, ENAP, in Buea.
NASLA’s Director General, Tanyitiku Enowachuo Bayee, who directly oversees the training, said the trainees will receive lessons on ethics and deontology, human rights, respect for state institutions, a nonviolent approach to conflict resolution, maintenance of public order, hygiene and sanitation, easing of circulation, surveillance of public buildings, public safety, civil protection, and crowd control.
He said the goal of the training is to ensure the maintenance of public order, safety, tranquilly, and public health in municipal and city council areas. He also thanked the government for the material resources disposed to NASLA for the training.
Emphasising the relevance of the training, the DG said: “By law, in Cameroon, to be considered legally a municipal policeman, you ought to have undergone training at NASLA. So, every other policeman who is outside the framework of the decree and has not undergone the training is not legal.”
The formal training of municipal police officers is a novelty in Cameroon, and it is being introduced after a recent blunder by a municipal police officer in Yaounde I Council, that caused two deaths and prompted a public outcry against the highhandedness of municipal police officers.
Minister Georges Elanga Obam said the government expects a more professional municipal police force in the country after the NASLA training.
“I want them to be citizens who are contributing to the development of their territories, who are helping the population to live well in society… to make sure that what is sold in the market is of good quality. I want life to change in our cities,” he said.
He noted that all material and human resources had been provided to NASLA to ensure effective training.
“We are eager to see the end of the training in three months and to see how they are working in the field. But I am optimistic that everything is going to be okay with the Municipal Police that we are starting here at NASLA,” Minister Elanga Obam said.
The first batch of trainees were present at the ceremony, all of them dressed in orange T-shirts and ash-coloured kakis and jackets, with their heads well shaved. They had already spent three days at ENAP.
Among them is Teboh George, head of the Tiko Municipal Police. Although he received basic training from the National Police Force before becoming a Municipal Police Officer 24 years ago, Teboh, who had already spent three days at the new training camp at ENAP, said the NASLA-run training was so far “a very good experience.”
He was among 12 municipal police officers from Tiko who were part of the first batch. “First, I want to thank the Almighty God for giving us this chance. I want to thank my Mayor, who did everything for us to be here,” he said.
“I was trained locally in those days by the police, but this is the real training. And I want to tell you that all the civilian mentality that was within us will be out because we are being trained on how to handle people. I am sure that after the training, we’ll be different—not the Municipal Police of yesterday,” Teboh added.
After their training, the Municipal Police officers are obliged, by Article 19 of the August 2022 decree guiding Municipal Policing in Cameroon, to take an oath before a competent Court of First Instance for assuming duty.
