Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican Police Force (PRM) announced last week that it will train 4,000 officers starting in January. The Mozambican Police Association (AMOPAIP) considers this number “very small”, given the country’s needs.
“In Mozambique, training cannot be stopped annually. We have police officers who have already fulfilled their obligations and others who are dying for various reasons,” said AMOPAIP president Nazário Muanambane in statement tso Lusa.
At issue is the announcement of training for 4,000 PRM officers starting in 2026, according to the notice for enrolment launched by the corporation’s general command, reported by Lusa this week. The corporation assured that the vacancies are “not for sale”.
For the president of the police association, the number of officers to be trained is insufficient for the country, considering that some officers in the Mozambican police force have already served 35 to 40 years and “need to go home and rest”, while others are on leave due to chronic illnesses, in addition to those murdered in the line of duty and elsewhere.
“We are losing PRM officers every day.”
“It’s clear that we, within the police force, not only in Mozambique, in the security forces, are losing PRM officers every day. We lose them to organized crime, to murder, to illness […]. Other officers are expelled from the force, every month and every year,” he added.
Muanambane also criticized the three-year suspension of basic training for new Mozambican police officers, announced in May 2023 by then-Commander-General Bernardino Rafael, to prioritize investment in infrastructure.
At the time, Rafael stated that the country had a “reasonable number of police officers to guarantee the security of Mozambicans for the next ten years”.
Muanambane on Saturday declared this decision “contradictory” in a country where there is a “lack of police personnel” in rural areas. He therefore believes that Mozambique “cannot stop” training new officers.
“In the towns and administrative posts, we only find one or two police officers. So, policing is only felt within the cities. But the population is not only in the cities; they have to realize that we need security in the countryside […]. What Bernardino said, that we don’t need more personnel and have more than enough, was absurd,” he said.
On Wednesday, PRM General Command spokesperson Leonel Muchina urged candidates to comply with the “legal criteria and procedures” of the process announced in the recruitment notice and to “distance themselves from all acts that often encourage corruption and fraud”.
“The positions at Matalana [PRM training school] are not for sale. Those involved in acts of corruption or fraud will be held strictly accountable, and the PRM General Command distances itself from all acts contrary to the law,” Muchina said, assuring that channels for reporting corruption cases would be made available, as had been the case in previous years.
According to the notice, registration for the 44th Basic Guard Training Course will run from August 18 to September 30. The training will last nine months and will take place at the Practical Police School in Matalana, Maputo province, starting January 5.
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