Oshana Regional Commander, Commissioner Lungameni Sakaria, says that the police is not against anyone practicing his or her constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion.
“The constitution guarantees people the right to belong and to worship. As police we don’t target churches,” said Sakaria.
He was speaking at the occasion to mark 100 days in office of Oshana Governeor Hofni Iipinge on Friday 25 October at Oshakati where hundreds of people gathered at the invitation of the governor.
“Some believe that we don’t like revival churches, no, we don’t have such a position.
“The problem is that when they go in the community and set up under the circumstances as referred to here by Governor, causing all havoc … We are for law and order, we don’t want anyone to go in the community and then mothers are no longer talking to their daughters, and people are having trouble.”
The police commander gave an example of a recent incident where the police was called to a house in Omatando settlement of Ongwediva, where a prophet has dug a tortoise out of the floor of a room.
The prophet asked that the whole house be cleansed by offering blood offering of two goats. The prophet also asked for some money before the ritual could be performed.
“We received a call, for the police to investigate the circumstances around the tortoise,” Sakaria said.
“We found out that they [the prophet] had brought the tortoise there; we found the tortoise in their [prophet] house.
“The goats, they said they would burn the goats during the cleansing sacrifice, [but] they took the goats and ate them.
“Is that the kind of churches you want to spread in the community?
“That is the situations where we come in as the police and deal with the situation; as we speak these people are in police custody. Cases are opened against these prophets.
“So those churches which have order, they are free to conduct their services, to pray and worship. But no noise pollution, people jumping until two o’clock in the morning. For us there is no discrimination where noise pollution is concerned, either a bar or a church, it is the same noise, so we act on that.
“Churches which are permissible, they pray for people, they have normal services, and they go home. They don’t tell people you have demons, you are bewitched by who, your pots have ghosts so go break them into pieces, no we are not going to allow that to happen in our communities.”
In the photo: Oshana Regional Police Commander Commissioner Lungameni Sakaria.
