Home Affairs redeploys border officers

BORDER control officers facing mass redeployment are unhappy over the exercise, which they claim they have not been consulted over.

A total of 163 officers at all points of entry will be affected by the transfers that will be made from January 1, 2013.The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration, Patrick Nandago, yesterday said immigration officers had been informed since 2010 that there would be mass redeployments.’Immigration officers do not have permanent duty stations; they are being deployed even at airports,’ said Nandago to the allegation that the redeployment came as a surprise to many. Nandago said the officers had been transferred several times over the years. ‘It is an ongoing exercise,’ he said.The upcoming redeployment the result of a new structure in the ministry approved in June 2011, Nandago said.’We want to align the officials’ redeployment with the new structure. We are trying to stabilise the structure,’ the PS said. So far, control, principal, and senior immigration officers in supervisory positions have been redeployed.Nandago could not say exactly how many officials would be transferred, but said it would be ‘quite a good number’.Officers have been informed that the transfers would not be accompanied by any salaries adjustments.Nandago said the government would pay the officers’ moving costs, which would be ‘quite expensive’.