By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: Armed junior police officers and warders will march to the Prime Minister’s Offices on Tuesday morning in demand for a salary increment.

Reached for comments, a leader of the disgruntled police officers confirmed the protest march adding that the police officers who will participate will be heavily armed to avoid being harassed by Mswati’s soldiers.

“We will meet at the Fire Station in Mbabane tomorrow and then march to the Prime Minister’s office, the Public Service Minister and the Justice Minister who is responsible for the Correctional Services. We will be joined by Warders and OSSU officers, we expect all officers to be armed because these are our tools that we use when conducting our duties,” said the leader of the disgruntled security officers whose name cannot be revealed for ethical reasons.

Police Spokesperson Phindile Vilakati had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

Tension is escalating within the security forces after the Executive Command misappropriated monies meant to increase salaries for junior security officers. 

The money that was meant for the salary increment under Phase two(2) was looted in 2014 where senior police and Correctional Services Officers created posts and shared the money through salary increments.