The Police Inspector General suggested amending the Benevolent Fund to alleviate the financial strain on police officers and their families.
He was speaking at a two-day Annual General Meeting of the Police Benevolent Fund underway at Swakopmund.
Established in 1982, the Police Benevolent Fund aims to assist members of the police force and their dependents during times of financial difficulty.
Members contribute between N$20 and N$50 per month and can access soft loans to cover expenses such as funerals, education, medical costs, and disasters, among others.
The Inspector General stressed the need to amend the Fund's constitution to improve member benefits.
He explained that when some police officers die, their families suffer because the breadwinner can no longer provide, even though the deceased was a contributing member of the Fund.
"Literally, people are crying because their son or daughter, who worked for 20 years, has passed away, yet there is nothing. We had the accidents in Mariental; that was one of the bad experiences. We had to run around to find ways to assist the families of those members who died on duty. So what do we do? Somebody doesn't even have an insurance policy worth 10 dollars, and when you verify their account, they owe the bank or cash loan companies. Therefore, we need to examine these issues closely."
The Inspector General further urged the meeting to come up with income-generating ideas to boost the Fund's finances.
The Chairperson of the fund, Lilungwe Mayumbelo, said members have observed that benefits are mostly accessed when a member loses a relative, but not when the actual member dies.
"We have invited insurance providers to come and speak to members of the Fund, with a view to considering a group scheme that offers insurance. For us, it's just about creating leverage or access to group insurance coverage. We will not manage it because we are not licensed for long-term insurance. Ours is simply to bring together a pool of members to access more affordable options in terms of group insurance coverage. That's what we will be discussing – how to improve access to such benefits."
Out of the 16,000 police officers nationwide, 10,000 are paid-up members of the Benevolent Fund.
The Inspector General also revealed that the police force is challenged by a high staff turnover, which affects efforts to bring more members on board.