The recent criminal activities that particularly targeted Cash-in-Transit vans and major supermarkets are a serious cause for concern. It is clear that there is a proliferation of armed robberies in the country and unfortunately this is going to look attractive to other unemployed youths. I think the answer to every one of our problems in this country should be the creation of employment driven by government with the support of the private sector.
After a serious thought and analysis on these recent events, I have come to conclude that we might be faced with an even bigger problem as a country if we don’t arrest the situation now. It is possible that there might be some powers behind these acts of criminality. I want to believe that someone is trying to make our country ungovernable.
With the current state of affairs, we cannot rule out that someone behind the scenes is driving this and especially those who are seeking to settle personal scores at the expense of the country. This is very likely and if that’s the case, that will be very unfortunate.
When looking at the past, it is possible that these armed robbers are possibly funded, trained and equipped by enemies of the state. The training could be provided by some of us who are ex-soldiers and this would be nothing new in the history of this country. It has happened in the1990s that active service soldiers were involved in the training of criminals. This went on until the robbers were caught using BDF weapons.
Let’s begin by accounting for every weapon in this country. What usually happens with weapons that come here as samples, there has been little or no accounting on them. Several arms companies have come into this country to demonstrate their weapons and in that way courting the military in this country to buy their products.
Usually small arms weapons would be sent in pairs and get cleared in with customs but they are usually never cleared out. Arms manufacturers are usually multi-million businesses. Coming back to get two rifles and two pistols from Botswana is usually not worth it. So the tendency is for them to abandon these weapons in the country. There has been a lot of these coming in the past and they don’t seem to appear anywhere in the government inventory books.
From the 1970s, a Belgian weapons manufacturing company known as FN Herstal brought in a single rifle as a sample to BDF. This 7.62 Fabrique National (FN) was issued to Brigadier Khama. Then after lengthy trials the weapon was approved by the BDF top brass and became a standard weapon issue to all infantry soldiers.
In the absence of proper accounting for other weapons of a similar calibre, one wonders what happened to them ad what purpose they may be serving wherever they may be. They could be used for poaching, robberies and worse still, terrorism.
A few weeks back I wrote on this space advocating for a shoot to kill policy regarding armed robbers. That would be the greatest deterrence. But however, the work that the security agents do by apprehending them alive is also very helpful. Upon interrogation the criminals can reveal critical crime intelligence information and this may ultimately lead to the arrest of the masterminds.
I don’t want to believe in my wildest thoughts that these armed robberies are just a coincidence. Certainly there is a force behind these acts that threaten the security of our country. The country’s security rating has for sure been shaken by these acts and I wouldn’t be surprised when either the UK, US and the European Union declare us as a country unsafe to travel to.
If this down grading happens, investor confidence is going to be seriously eroded. Indeed a few weeks we have come very close to many countries in the Americas that include Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Jamaica and many more. As a nation, we need to rise and overcome this because if it continues, we may never be able to stop it.
Remember that as a country we have gone into Mozambique to fight terrorism before it comes to us. In our current state of affairs, it is easy for enemies of the state to generate terrorism acts in our country aided by those we are routing in Mozambique.
Like any nation, we have our weak security points. It is almost impossible to shut every area and of course these armed robberies have shown that we not as good as others think we are. But in security there is never anything as hundred percent. Let’s acknowledge that there will always be gaps which the enemy will wedge themselves through to disturb our peace.
In fact I am reminded of a radio interview carried by one of the BDF retired generals last week. It was a disappointing interview in the sense that the general was all out to discredit those in charge of our security. The man was like a runaway gun spewing all the state secrets to the public.
I am writing this article that has security elements with much restraint because I do not want to point at our security weak points. But for this man, it seemed he enjoyed the bad mouthing.
Yet another general on the same week came out publicly at a political rally to denounce government in their handling of the poaching of animals in general and rhinos in particular. It is really a disgrace for a general to leave government today and go around denouncing it within a short time.
I retired as a captain and at that level I was dealing with tactical issues. For the generals, at their level they were dealing with strategic issues. Where they see gaps in the security of our country, they should approach those in authority and advice accordingly. But the nation is watching and it shows that some of our retired generals do not have the nation at heart.
