Security lapses behind Mongu incident -Mangani

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 06:15:34 +0000

By MUKOSELA KASALWE

An armoured vehicle should have blocked the UPND convoy and opened fire had they resisted to move aside in the interest of safeguarding the life of the Head of State, former Minister of Home Affairs Lameck Mangani has said.

Mr Mangani said that no matter one’s position in society there was need to respect the presidency and wondered what would have happened had one of the UPND vehicles hit into the official vehicle of the President-Eagle One.

It was reckless, he said, for the UPND convoy to have moved closer to or in a competing mode with the presidential motorcade.

He said UPND had put the life of the President at risk as well as their own lives saying if the presidential security felt the life of the Head of State had been threatened they had the right to shoot at them and that it would have been within the law.

Mr Mangani said that there was lack of professionalism in the way the motorcade scenario was handled saying it would have put the country in serious problems.  “The VIP security was conversant with how security should be handled and that seeing from a video circulating on online media that was not good enough,

“I want to indicate that, I have a feeling that there was a serious lapse in the security detail of the State House security that manned the presidential motorcade as an armoured vehicle should have blocked the UPND convoy.”, Mr Mangani said.

He said that there was need to revisit such assignments and engagements in future, adding that they must be avoided at all costs.

He wondered if security clearly understood the implications of their action for not blocking the UPND convoy. He said that VIP security was well trained to handle such incidence and that they should not have conducted themselves like police officers from the general security.