"It is a big sum of money in the context of a police force where I want to get more uniformed officers back on the beat - it is a stark choice that has to be made, " he said.
Small retailers, who employ workers from the unorganized labour force, are estimated to extract three times the productivity of a uniformed employee at a supermarket.
According to the United Nations, its peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast as of April 30 included nearly 11, 000 uniformed personnel, as well as several hundred international civilian personnel, local staff and volunteers.