The feud between Lesotho Mounted Police Service Commissioner Khothatso Tšooana and Lesotho Defence Force boss, Lieutenant General Kamoli, scaled new heights last week when the former was barred from entering State House with his security entourage.
Apparently, the soldiers guarding State House asked Commissioner Tšooana to leave his vehicles and bodyguards outside and walk to a meeting with Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.
LMPS spokesperson, Senior Inspector Lebona Mohloboli, described the actions by the troops at State House as shocking and unprecedented. We agree entirely. It’s impossible to fathom how soldiers guarding an important state property would want to humiliate the head of another security agency in such a heavy-handed manner.
There is no doubt that the soldiers were acting on the instructions of their boss, Lieutenant General Kamoli, who is seemingly engaged in a war of attrition with Tšooana.
One thing is now clear, the acrimony between the LMPS and the LDF cannot simply be allowed to continue. Enough is enough. The security needs of any state are far too important than the whims and caprices of individual heads of security agencies.
If soldiers can brazenly act in that way to humiliate a police commissioner, it begs the question of what else are they prepared to do to entrench their position in this continuing turf war. Another important thing has also become crystal clear; Dr Thabane cannot continue being a spectator while this dangerous feud continues to unfold.
