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President Lungu and the Rotten Military and Police Training Thugs

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By Rev. Kapya Kaoma

The recent torturous military or police training video that surfaced on social media is a testament to the rottenness of our military and police recruitment system. The video shows young boys being tortured, abused, and teased by trainers. One trainer is heard telling the boy that his beating is nothing compared to what he would receive from civilians.

Another boy is seen lying with minimal movement, while the trainer kicks his head. Other boys are in excruciating pain, gasping for air, while others are coughing and crying uncontrollably. Such inhumane acts cannot be defended on the basis of military or police training; it is criminal and those thugs must be arrested and prosecuted.

We have repeatedly campaigned against police brutality which is on an increase during this campaign season. The video testifies to the fact that Military and Police brutality is driven by the abusive training the officers undergo. They are not taught to defend and protect citizens, but to see us as enemies. In the nation where military officers are promoted, become Generals, and retire honorably without fighting a single war, abusing citizens is the only route to promotion. Any officer who beats and harasses the losing party the worst is on the list to be promoted by the next regime.

It is shameful that such acts take place under the watch of the President. But how can the President discipline the very thugs that work to protect his own cartel?

The video is cause for national concern not only to parents, but also any person with ubuntu. I am ashamed that such human rights abuses are done in the name of Zambia police or military. I am disconcerted that these thugs and criminals proudly and shamelessly abuse innocent boys in the name of my country. We deserve better!

The faecal mentality that presents military or police training as torture goes against The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The acts of torture witnessed in that video are prohibited under this Convention, to which Zambia is a signatory.

Besides, it is inhumane to hit the heads of boys with big sticks. Such acts are not only crazy, foolish, and demonic, but also life ending. Soccer players are protected when they crush heads because of the risk of concussion. Moreover, those thugs are not medical doctors or health professionals; in fact, they are unlikely to hold a grade 12 Certificate. Who does not know that they bribed senior officers to get in?

But there is something more. As we move towards the elections, we are witnessing torture of civilians by men in uniforms. We must realize that these officers are trained in environments that approve of torture and non-respect of human rights and dignity. Putting on the uniform means surviving human abuse; it is thus on them to do the same to civilians on the streets. Yet the police and the military ought to protect civilians and not the corrupt cartel.

We must realize that by watching such torturous acts and doing nothing, we are sending a message that being in the military or the police means surviving abuse. I am afraid for female recruits, who are in the hands of these thugs.

If President Lungu does not act by firing those thugs, I am ashamed to call him the Commander in Chief!

If Rev. Sumaili does not condemn these acts, she has lost any sense of human decency. As for my fellow men and women of the cloth, if we don’t speak out, shame on us!

115 COMMENTS

  1. You are a soft reverend who has no idea what it takes to be a strong soldier. Those boys are not being trained to be alter boys who collect money on your behalf in churches. They are trained to protect weak men like yourself and thr country at large. Show some respect

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  2. I will be getting in touch with my good friend Karim khan, the new ICC prosecutor.
    He will have a field day taking lungu and his minions to icc court for Human rights abuses and killings

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  3. Military training is not a joke, yes it is torture – even in biblical times. And it is so all over the world. If you are not ready to take the heat – stay away. Ask those who took out Bin Laden, then you will know what they go through in training. In fact the military should establish who leaked out that video and severely punish them. That has nothing to do with Lungu – and if the intention of the leakers of the video is to play politics, sorry, wrong field.

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  4. “In the nation where military officers are promoted, become Generals, and retire honorably without fighting a single war, abusing citizens is the only route to promotion.” i find this statement of yours very unfortunate. Much as nations have armies, priority is given to diplomacy and war is a last resort, not to destroy, though it does, but push people back to diplomacy. We should be grateful that Zambia has not seen war, instead of scoffing at generals who have never been to war. The treatment of those boys by their trainers should not lie on the shoulders of the trainers, but on the failure of the government to create jobs and business opportunities. This has seen young men and women being forced to bribe their way into the security wings, even when they know they do not have the…

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  5. Just stay in your lain Rev, military training is not meant to be nice. When on combat assignment, if captured by insurgents, the torture could be much worse than that. You don’t want to produce a soldier who would divulge pertinent information to the enermies after simple simple torture. It takes much work to remove civilian manners like #yours from a recruit.

  6. This is rotten to say the least. Everything g is about discipline and tactical not beating and humiliation. At every given opportunity, we always do shit the ways. I dont understand. Watch military training in the US army. Tough but humane

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  7. Sir, that is not theological training but military training. It is about subduing the civilian freedom mindset you have ba Reverend. No wonder you did not go for such kind of training, military is for them that can withstand inhuman treatment of the worst kind if captured or during combats.

  8. You can build an organization that is battle-ready, where people trust one another. In military training, the first rule is to instil soldiers with trust in their officers – because without trust, they won’t fight.

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  9. Useless Reverend. You think the military is like the pulpit of nowadays were you can even ordain yourself. It’s not cheap to have those ranks, they’re earned. Respect ze biggi. You think you can just wake up one day and call yourself General Kanene? Anyway the people that must be disciplined are the ones that are recording and leaking such videos. It seems in Zambia everything now goes, we don’t have respect for anything. I remember during one of the pass out parades how General Haimbe smashed pan bricks with his fists in the presence of KK to demonstrate to the younger cadets that he went through what they well going through and earned his rank. Haimbe was a Shotokan Black Belt holder. Bwana Reverend please sit down

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  10. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

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  11. Leave civilian mentality to civilians and let those who go for Army endure the installation of Military mentality……….

    So keep your Lane sir before you look lost.

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  12. You leave out physically fit men who can endure such training in favour of your weak and spoilt nephews and you want them to be training as if they are learning how to dance. Those boys are gaining skills on how to defend this country. They were even lucky. Otherwise such weak boys die in serious military training

  13. “The Japanese fought to win – it was a savage, brutal, inhumane, exhausting and dirty business. Our commanders knew that if we were to win and survive, we must be trained realistically for it whether we liked it or not. In the post-war years, the U.S. Marine Corps came in for a great deal of undeserved criticism in my opinion, from well-meaning persons who did not comprehend the magnitude of stress and horror that combat can be. The technology that developed the rifle barrel, the machine gun and high explosive shells has turned war into prolonged, subhuman slaughter. Men must be trained realistically if they are to survive it without breaking, mentally and physically.”
    ? E.B. Sledge, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

  14. Muleikalafye naimwe ba Rev(with respect) I age you to stay away from this,
    Cos Military is what you just saw,

    The culprit are the ones who licked those videos, no integrity anymore, how do their lick such a footage I mean, normal society can’t agree with them, civilization with judge it as human right violations!

  15. Reverend
    Please shout your mouth and stay away from things that do not concern you and just put and take peoples money you have not earned.
    Why do you send your children to such places for employment when you know that that is the training they have to go through? They cannot just change training programme just because a Reverend so and so have sympathy over the trainees? The whole training is about character transformation from civilian way of thinking to military so that such a person can defend the country even he is alone in a battle situation.
    We were the second National Service trainees in KK Government and even up to day we think differently no matter where we go in life because we went through Military Training.
    The people who leaked the video must be found and arrested and…

  16. military trainings are like that everywhere, it is not for weaklings. since Zambia is not at war, we take it for granted to have soldiers with pot bellies. awe bane, we need fit soldiers to protect us

  17. Invest in watching war movies, you will come to appreciate the training, we’ve been accustomed to rubbing shoulders with military personnel in our streets and tend to think they are civil servants like most

  18. Just because that is the way we have always done things does not mean that it is the right way. People need to learn. They need to reform. The science must guide not traditions or emotions. You do not have to be cruel to a person to train them to be tough. Women look weak but when it comes to giving birth KZ would cry the whole year if he was to pass the size of a small baby’s head per straight tube.

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  19. I won’t comment on the military training, but it’s a fact that the police training rule book is outdated. How can we as a nation in the 21st century rely on something passed down to us by our colonial masters. The training then was meant to break down the natives. The term police service is a joke coz they are still a force.
    See how policing is done in most countries” with dignity and respect for human rights”
    And the issue of police camps should be abolished

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  20. If indeed military training is for security purposes,(war against enemies) how come there is mention of civilians in the video? Does it mean these recruits are being trained with Zambian civilians in mind?

  21. So is that a policeman’s boot stepping on a woman’s backside in the photo? Credible evidence of PF’s human rights abuses.

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  22. The tone of the language of a so called Rev. Is pathetic to say the least. While advice is welcome especially from the so called clergy it is however, expected that the clergy must show dignity befitting the so called Rev. Mr Kapya do not hide behind the pulpit if you are a politician. We expect a solid and and balanced counsel on Govt. not this malicious emotional attacks. Mr Kapya grow up we have a nation to develop. Your good counsel is overtaken by your childish and uncivilised language.

  23. Mr Kapya, if you have a bone to chew with ECL your article does not help your cause. While you have a right to counsel the army or police in the manner they conduct their training the inclusion of ECL as an executive head is not very ingenious. You have a right to provide counsel as a supposedly man of God. But the language suggests that you are not but just hiding behind the pulpit.

  24. The writer has no reason 2b this rude. Military training is physically and emotionally demanding and leading military personnel into battle is even more demanding emotionally and physically. The fact that we hv had no war is great. We keep our military as insurance in an uncertain world which has not stopped producing mad men who can threaten peace. There’s no comfortable retirement for anybody in Zambia, including our military personnel.

  25. When you sign up for military training you need to be ready for anything. Its not a walk in the park but the trainers need to assess and disqualify those they feel will not make it through as soon as possible, it is a waste of resources, time and possibly you as a trainer will be putting to risk the health plus well being of the less capable recruits should the training continue. In other words release those that can’t make the grade before they suffer injury or die during training. Continue with those that are strong enough.

  26. I miss National Service.
    Those young fellows are being toughened and having their civilian “demons” whipped the hell out of them.
    What did they expect when signing up?

  27. Despite military or Police training not being for the soft hearted let me add further to my earlier comment that I understand the point the Reverand is trying to get across which is that this form of training breeds brutish police or soldiers that have no respect for human rights and he is actually right UNLESS they are not sat down later in class and lectured strongly to uphold and protect the human rights of civilians which they are suppossed to. Secondly trainers are not above the law, assault is assault and if a recruit suffers serious injury physical or psychological the trainer is liable to be charged and jailed and relevant institutions must place these checks on place.

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  28. I as a Clergy distance myself from the post this is military training not an adventure so sir with due respect nothing wrong with training, only the people that took video its risking the security of the nation.

    Those boys and girls most of them go their because they’re family members helped them with motive to get money and they leave out the boys and girls that were cadets in school they are mentally trained to adapt to military training but these mwana ma yard see now

  29. False.1974-1982 all Form 5 and University students went for National Service.All aspects including being captured we’re done, but no such brutality was done.
    Even among the elite troops you don’t stand on the head of your soldiers.
    Such tactics will result in anger and even abuse of the very people we’re supposed to be protecting.

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  30. Leave Military and Police training to the experts.. Military and Police

    Ba Rev Kapya Kaoma, little knowledge is dangerous. Stick and stay to the pulpit

  31. Sir, we need to be very cautious while believing all that is circulated on social media. In most of the cases, such videos and photos are morphed to mislead people. I would suggest you to cross check the video and try to find out its source.

  32. It is not a torture. It is military training. They are not training to be office peons. They will be guarding our borders and maintaining law and order in the country. They must be tough to face any situation on field.

  33. You are talking about police brutality. Can you give some examples? You seem to be unaware of what the UPND did in Lusaka in December!

  34. Why don’t you stick to your brief? Let the military handle the training and you enjoy safe and peaceful life at home.

  35. They are future warriors and fighters, and not some government officer in some department. They must undergo such rigorous training and then only they will be ready to protect our nation. Don’t show the sympathy to gain publicity.

  36. The video is not a cause of national concern at all. In my opinion, it is the fake and needs strict action to be taken against the one who made it posted on social media. Such anti social elements will soon be brought to justice once the Cyber Security Bill is passed.

  37. Do you think United Nations will come to our rescue if someone attacks us? Please keep it out of the discussion. We have to protect our nation and we know how to do it.

  38. What human right violation you see in military training? Have you seen military training in any other country? I think, you should save your resources on such futile exercise and let your friend Karim Khan do some fruitful work.

  39. The Rev. does not understand army training and has an abusive language for the President and the army. He should visit army trainings in other countries before he opens up wholly mouth. What he saw is what cadets do in secondary schools. These army will one time go for foreign mission and they may end up in the hands of rebels like Bokos and will be starved for 10 days without food nor water, how are they going to make it. Please Rev. take you theology to your church. If you want them to be Salvation Army then they are in a wrong place. Please take your politics aware from the security wings and respect the President he is the commander in chief.

  40. Whoever took that video and leaked it is the one to be followed. Military training is rough and tough everywhere to take out the civilianness and be a Militant for the State. It was morally wrong each field has ethics, the one who leaked it lost it. Immature.

  41. Ok the conclusion on this forum is that Military training is no child play and the Rev. must stick to his lane. And for the foremost, no such videos MUST be leaked to the public galley. That’s why the information bill has still remained a bill. Comments closed.

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