The Zambia Police Service has unveiled a new fleet of 18 armoured vehicles to be used for crowd control during protests.
Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja announced that Government has provided the resources in the quest to modernize the police service.
“We have acquired 3 Marauders for the Paramilitary Unit and 15 Mavericks for general policing. Officers will indeed undergo training in the use and maintenance of these vehicles.” he said.
Mr Kanganja said the armoured vehicles were fully equipped to quell any volatile situation.
In January 2015, Government announced that it had purchased three choppers for the Zambia Police Service to improve operations.
good idea with the kind of leadership expect massive protests in the next five years though 18 is not enough…..
The Police Force should buy more guns also because the slum dwellers cannot live on Dununa Reverse alone.
Is this why they keep stalking HH & GBM so they can make use of those military vehicles? This time there will be not just 1 girl Mapendzi….
That looks like an AFV (Armoured Fighting Vehicle), full combat vehicle. Riot vehicles have water cannons mounted where that semi automatic rifle is attached. Are we at full blown war in Zed? The rise of a dictator.
What is an AFV? An Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and generally armed with weapons, which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities.
Riot Control Vehicle (RCV):
The RCV – Riot Control Vehicles are specially designed to provide a range of NON-LETHAL options to disperse protestors in situations of civil unrest and violent protest. They are equipped with powerful multi directional WATER CANNONS that can also spray dye, tear gas, foam to extinguish fires and other additives.
I thought the Economy was our first priority now. Soon it will be F-16 Falcon Fighter Jets!!! Dictators invest heavily in the military!! For a good reason of course, to control and intimidate opponents.
For what honestly? Its an open secret that this is purely meant for the opposition UPND. NO amount of intimidation will stop us from calling a spade a spade. Buying useless machines to stop people from rioting is not a solution. What a sane government does is analyze why people are rioting and attend to such issues. What causes people to riot is when they realize that their rights are not respected. E.g when citizens or a group of people are aggrieved of anything and want to show their displeasure they can do a peaceful protest without getting permission from anyone but when people decide to do that here in Zambia Police starts teargassing them and what people retaliates it results in a riot. Generally Zambians are peaceful people and as such buying such useless machines is a sheer waste…
Generally Zambians are peaceful people and as such buying such useless machines is a sheer waste of time and resources and its a sign of misplaced priority.
Police state……
Zambia is a PEACEFUL blah blah blah but still budgeting o wrong TOYS.
Its sad that the IG can be posing like a kid with a new toy, when these are killing machines not to be used against your own citizens . These were mostly used against blacks under apartheid in South Africa. I see why the ICC is necessary – to deal with such characters. In any case it shows that the government of the day expect riots after the Dununa Reverse nonsense. What is DUNUNA REVERSE anyway?
Iwe Yambayamba
Its only PF thugs who have guns to shoot at citizens at will.
Honestly is this where the money meant for civil servants salaries has spent on really? How preposterous!
IMF does not want to fund PF government because it will not be able to justify why it refuses to fund Zimbabwe and yet Zambian PF and Zimbabwean ZANU-PF believe and implement the same cruel undemocratic principles.
Whether PF likes it or not it will fall very soon.
Kanganja is on his way out very soon. Lungu wants some one from the East who is 100% loyal to the PF regime.
If IMF does not fund PF government then prepare for Zimbabwean like situation where their currency collapsed totally and now Mugabe wants to start using promissory notes to pay its workers.
Cry my beloved ! PF evil is…
Iwe Yambayamba
Its only PF thugs who have guns to shoot at citizens at will.
Honestly is this where the money meant for civil servants salaries has spent on really? How preposterous!
IMF does not want to fund PF government because it will not be able to justify why it refuses to fund Zimbabwe and yet Zambian PF and Zimbabwean ZANU-PF believe and implement the same cruel undemocratic principles.
Whether PF likes it or not it will fall very soon.
Kanganja is on his way out very soon. Lungu wants some one from the East who is 100% loyal to the PF regime.
If IMF does not fund PF government then prepare for Zimbabwean like situation where their currency collapsed totally and now Mugabe wants to start using promissory notes to pay its workers.
Cry my beloved ! PF evil is…
Very right Mr Intelligent. If there is any doubting Thomas, they should consult the ‘Jane’s Defence Magazine’. Those vehicles ordered by the Police to fight its own people are full military pieces of equipment comparable to the BRMs. I agree again that for riots, the Police could have bought water tankers like the one I always see at Lusaka Central Police but has never been used, instead the Police chooses to use live bullets on its own citizens like that innocent young woman of Chawama who was murdered by the Police in cold blood! Indeed, a Dictator has been born in Zambia. Kenneth Kaunda’s dictatorship was a child’s play compared to what we are currently experiencing! Shame.
One seriously hopes that these amoured vehicles will not be operated by some trigger happy PF cadre cops. Otherwise, Zambians in certain parts of the country are in serious trouble!
Well, those “Zambians in certain parts of the country” need NOT worry if they are LAW ABIDING citizens. But if they decide to riot and destroy property belonging to other innocent Citizens, they better be worried indeed. They should realize Police now mean business!
Good leadership unlike HH thinking of putting all the cash into his pocket as he did with privatisation
Good leadership is buying military weapons to shoot Zambian Citizens instead of using the money for development?
It might be good for illegal presidents stealing elections and public money.
Definitely NOT good for Zambia and its people!
those long like war zone vehicles and can should only be used in a state of an emergency,not saying its not something needed in the arsenal but for zambian riots its an overkill
“…new fleet of 18 armoured vehicles to be used for crowd control during protests…”
Armed with 12.7mm machine-gun????
Yes, with political thugs now carrying guns and shooting at the Police officers, you definitely need firepower to send a clear and unambiguous message that Police mean business every time they show up on the scene—you better recognize who is in charge.
And if you are STUP!DY ENOUGH to linger and try to challenge Police coming at you in an AV with mounted machine guns, then you should have yourself to blame if you get cut down to shreds. This might even make people think twice to dare and tangle with Police. A trend which, unfortunately, has become way to common and getting out of hand especially during Political Campaigns—this will definitely tip the balance back where it belongs, the Police and NOT thugs on the street.
@ Ka yambayamba pf cadre police are just cowards…
That 12.7 will definitely control the crowd! It’s insanity
@yambayamba just think about what you’re saying for one second – you want Zambia to be worse than apartheid South Africa just so people “know who’s in charge”? You sound like a five year old in a playground but you’re talking about dead bodies
This is a missed placed priorities.How many former Zambian employees or retires who have not been paid their dues,farmers who supplied maize to FRA and salaries for civil servants and no drugs in hospitals,poor water and sanitation but you choose to buy these military things.
Look at the type of military equipment in Iraq,Syria and Afghanistan but has the war ended?
This is how you create anxiety among the citizens.
The will of the people will always prevail.
What a wastage expenditure at this time when the country has no money.
You can not simply NEGLECT PRIORITY AREAS such as National Security and Peace just because certain you have retirees and farmers who have not gotten their dues yet. Even retirees and farmers require an EFFECTIVE and CAPABLE Police Force for them to live in peace and secure environment. Without that, nothing else will matter much, not even their dues when they get them!
And I am sure the MINISTRY of Home Affairs, under which the ZP fall, get an appropriate share of the budget just like these other Ministries. This is where the purchase of these vehicle came from. So you have to ask why Ministries responsible for taking care of the issues you have spoken of have not done so. If it is the case of inadequate funding, that is NOT the Police Departments fault!
Well there it is proof that Zambia is now under a dictatorship – if you don’t like what they are doing keep quiet, if you protest you shall be shot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If we are unpopular than we need such equipment to kill to maintain power at all cost
Which ***** bought these. They could have spent the money on Marine ships for Zambia’s navy.
Certainly Lungu is serious about kolling and silencing freedoms.
Lungu is kolling who
Why was my word censored? It said Idiiot.
National security and peace for who when PF police has found itself in a position where cadres are more important than the Police.
Yambayamba are you not ashamed that as Police they found Chavula in a server room,Max was shooting peopla and Davies Chama but these people are walking freely but Nevers Mumba is now in courts for going to ZNBC?
This shows that the leadership of this country has collapsed and only force will be used to rule this country but people will always find out the way to survive.It is shame to waste these resources now when the country is talking about austerity measures.This is PF for you.You will only remember this when it will be used on you.
When salaries are delayed including PF cadres are affected.
Zambia is now a police state and the rule of law died with…
@sudan: I refuse to waste time debating people who seem NOT to know what they are talking about. I have no idea how Chavula, Max, Davies Chama, and Mumba’s cases have to do with Police purchasing armored vehicles for RIOT CONTROL—you have lost me!
My advice to you is that if you are too DRUNK today, please stay off the internet, sober up, and then come back and blog like an intelligent, thinking, and reasonable person—STOP UKU SABAILA!
@ yambayamba
You are not debating. What you do it is incoherent ranting by a certified 1mbecile trying to get crumb or two from under the high table
@yambayamba As an American citizen, reading comments like yours make me afraid to visit your country again.
A Sudan tekanyani. Politicks is not all there is in life.
This is not about politics.
This is about thieves that have taken over Zambia by electoral rigging and bribing, and intimidating judges.
And now they are very afraid of what will happen when they are exposed.
A COUP by stealth and deception is still a coup.
Lungu and his PF planned this from the start. That is why they arranged the immunity from prosecution for the ECZ.
Are these not the type of armoured vehicles used in war-torn countries? This is when now this PF Police is going to finish us off. Already they are killing us with their hard economic policies. And they must be anticipating a lot of protests because of the difficult decisions they are about to start implementing. We are in trouble.
@sudan: I refuse to waste time debating people who seem NOT to know what they are talking about. I have no idea how Chavula, Max, Davies Chama, and Mumba’s cases have to do with Police purchasing armored vehicles for RIOT CONTROL—you have lost me!
My advice to you is that if you are too DRUNK today, please stay off the internet, sober up, and then come back and blog like an intelligent, thinking, and reasonable person—STOP UKU SABAILA!
Misplaced priorities.
Instead of overhauling the entire police service and getting rid of their inherent failure to serve and protect the public. Zambian police are so cheap and immoral. It beggars belief at times. It’s actually a sad state of affairs. When you really think about it, it’s a risk to the nation to have a force that is so easily compromised by a K50.00, if not less. Common simple-minded crooks really. Work on making the force a professional and respectable one before making these material investments. These sort of vehicles are not cheap and this money could have been put to better use elsewhere.
Da move by da police to purchase those vehicles is jst ok,bt da is us who want to politicised anythin wch u ve seen dat dis one wil bring benefit to sam of us, dats wat u want to comment on it. Wthout proper security to our life its samthin else. We nid to b secured forus to enjoy anythin in life.
Lungus is a wasteful leader. Zambia does not need these armoured vehicles against it’s citizens. this is what happens when a leader does not have a vision. china has really recolonised Zambia and there’s no more stand and sing of Zambia proud and free.
Yamba hyena you are just drunk with your dung, the fact is that this is not Uganda where you copy your Tyrant style of leadership. What we are saying is that those machine which have been bought by your thieves are leather for protestor. But you seem not to understand things because you true well that when vigilantees from Pfools protests they are never harmed. So you know for sure that these machine guns are meant for fellow brothers in opposition. Then the next day you will go for national prayer and pretend you are holy.
Instead of buying walkie talkies for every officer and a side holster…he is poising like Johhn Rambo!!
18 oct 2016 4 what thts how fighting can start thy also change system of rioting wht z nest FIGHT in zambia
in Anticipation of the protests to come after signing of the IMF package.
The vehicles are bad enough but for the IG to be posing on them like a little boy playing soldiers??? He should resign and make way for a grown-up. This is crazy
I have seen this type in Uganda before. Shame on Zambia!
I think we are being misled to believe that those armored trucks are for quelling riots, but those are specifically for war. We must brace ourselves for hard time ahead with this PF led govt. I would have expected water cannons which are frequently used to disperse unruly crowds. Ba opposition and the private media watch out, boma is preparing for serious combat!
Police have no ordinary vehicles for township patrols and the IG is grinning on top of a killing machine “for riot control”! What happened to ordinary water cannons and other civilised ways of crowd control? Have we had any riots to warrant such killing machines?
Fearful little dictator thinks these murderous will silence the vast majority of suffering citizens. Lungu’s priority must be to listen to the people and address their cries instead of wasting resources to buy weapons of mass destruction. Now we can see exactly what he meant in his infamous statement soon after he imposed himself on the people, he said, ‘ I am going to fall like a ton of bricks on anyone who opposes my views’.
The know-it-all expert Yambayamba is in full support because none of his relatives will have these weapons pointed at them, but rest assured Zambia will one day sooner or later be liberated from these blood thirsty frightened little despots whose aim is to return Zambia to the evil one party state via terror and murder.
The argon of Africans and their mindset is that they do not appreciate their own safety unless protection is done by someone else. If there is no property protection from disgruntled and misguided citizenry then you blame the Govt. Those who have traveled far and wide will agree that our law enforcement agents are at the mess of hooligans (both political and criminals), and yet they are expected to come out best using their shot batons as though the world was stationery. Look at what all democratic Governments have, including America. What do they use to stop any nonsense or enforce the law and order in their own country? And here in our own back yard some backward minds ask What for? this is to protect your own relatives who are helpless when those hooligans are sent by greedy…
Greedy politicians who are willing to kill to get political positions. We need more of these. Look at that thug with a chain in his hand and flashed in the media now and again. I wonder if that thug has been arrested.
Then you expect Civil servant to be paid on time with such procurements??????
Oh my God. What caring government buys killing machines for riot control? These vehicles carry lethal weapons. The civilised world uses water cannons for crowd control and not machine guns. Lungu is a dangerous man. This is a dictatorship in the making. Zambians will soon know the real Lungu.