Maravi

Govt orders police to kill karavinas on sight

Govt orders police to kill karavinas on sight
By Namatama Mundia
Fri 02 Apr. 2010, 04:00 CAT

NORTH-Western Province permanent secretary Dr Eustern Mambwe has disclosed that the government has instructed police officers to kill on the spot karavinas hired killers that attempt to shoot them.

Making a submission to the parliamentary committee on security and foreign affairs on Wednesday, Dr Mambwe said the government through the district police division had intensified measures to stop the increase of karavinas in the province.

“Instructions have been given to police officers to kill on the spot those karavinas attempting to kill police officers using weapons and arrest those karavinas found to be causing havoc on the citizenry,” he said.

Dr Mambwe said the government had also intensified the gun amnesty programme by rewarding with cash those that surrender illegal weapons.

“So far the programme has been going on well as more than 100 different weapons have been handed over to the police during 2009 period. Government through the Ministry of Home Affairs has been paying K500,000 for each surrendered weapon,” he said.

However, Dr Mambwe said there had been isolated cases of karavinas in February in Chavuma and Zambezi districts.

“It’s worth to mention that of late there have been very few reports of karavina existence in the province,” he said.

Responding to concerns by members of the committee on whether the 100 people who surrendered their weapons had been paid, Dr Mambwe said payments had been made.

“From information I get through the intelligent reports, all the 100 who surrendered their weapons were paid, money is paid through the chiefs because the weapons are surrendered to the state through the chiefs,” he said.

Dr Mambwe said statistics on karavinas showed that most of them were foreigners.

“These are insurgents fighting government in their own country Angola; they are crossing over to earn a living. Out of the people captured, there is nothing to suggest they karavinas are locals and the majority of those are from Angola,” he said.

And Dr Mambwe called on the government to set up more border posts along the borderline in order to maximise security presence, by law enforcement agencies.
“The borderline must be clearly marked to avoid people moving from one country to another using bush road,” he said.

Dr Mambwe said the government should find resources to improve and construct border inspection lines on the Zambian side like it was done on the Congolese and Angolan sides.

He said it was imperative that security was enhanced on the Zambian border areas and that radio communication facilities must be procured and installed at selected checkpoints.

“This will not only facilitate quick responses to danger but also provide the security with self confidence that they would immediately receive support and immediate back up in case there arose a situation where they were overpowered by karavinas hired gunmen,” said Dr Mambwe.

Labels: EUSTERN MAMBWE, KARAVINAS, POLICE, SHOOT TO KILL

posted by MrK @ 4:49 AM