The Sh12 billion death traps: Police armoured vehicles could be metallic coffins for security officers

President Uhuru Kenyatta inspects a gun mounted on top of an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) when he commissioned APCs for the Kenya Police Service at G.S.U. Headquarters in Ruaraka.

When 42 police officers were mowed down by cattle rustlers in Baragoi, there was a national outrage. Investigations later revealed that without protective armour, the officers were sitting ducks for the rustlers who had unrivalled knowledge of the “valley of death” because they had tactical advantage, having taken cover on raised ground.

And so, it was with a collective sigh of relief when President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned a fleet of armoured personnel carriers (APCs) at the GSU headquarters in February last year. He said the APCs would wean the Kenya Police Service from dependence on the military or other security agencies for performance of their duties and go along way in securing the frontier areas of our country. Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery described the new equipment as “a game changer in the fight against crime”.