FOR SOME GOOD reasons a lot of countries around the world place high premium on the security of their presidents because next to the sovereignty of the countries, comes the President who represents the symbol of authority, the person who leads and the citizens follow.
AS A MEMBER of the comity of nations, Liberia is no exception. Like many others before him, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is right now the symbol of authority, the torchbearer of the nation, the man who talks and the nation follows despite our individual differences.
WITH THAT SAID, everything about him becomes the matter of the state and as such must be accorded such due attention, recognition and respect just as his personal security matters most to the nation just as anything that adversely happens to him directly affects us as a nation and people.
BASED ON THE premise, we are appalled to point out the series of security and protocol lapses around President Boakai which pose serious security breaches that should not even have taken place. One instance was the poor and abysmal security and protocol arrangements during the inauguration program that led to the heat exhaustion suffered by the President and interrupted his inaugural speech right in front of foreign dignitaries as well as the citizens themselves.
IT WAS A very embarrassing occurrence which should not have taken place at all if those who were in charge of security and protocols did their jobs the right way. We want to be thankful to God that nothing ugly happened that might have perhaps plunged us in another round of crisis.
THE SECOND INCIDENT occurred yesterday, Tuesday, 2024 on the Campus of the United Methodist University when an intruder evaded the security and protocol according to eye witness accounts held his hand at the back of the President and attempted pulling him down before security men swiftly repelled his hand and pushed him away from the vicinity of the incident.
THIS SITUATION IS hair-raising and sends out a dangerous signal about how the President is being exposed to dangers. How dare the protocol and security around the President be so porous that one begins to fathom how those officers responsible for their lives and security behaved the way they did.
FROM THE ONSET, let us register our condemnation against those lapses within the president’s protocol and security set up. We respect the Presidency and so we expect others to be patriotic as we all strive to build a prosperous country.
WE URGE THE government to institute an immediate probe to investigate the circumstances that led to the two embarrassing situations and if possible punish those who will be responsible to for this show of shame.
WE DO NOT want to see the repetition in the future because we know the implications of these two instances and therefore it is incumbent upon everyone of us to ensure that the relative peace we are enjoying today.