IN the last few days, Lusaka witnessed a movie like scenario in which trigger happy Constable Jackson Mwanza shot dead one man, another died later in the hospital.
The coward that he was, Mwanza later took his own life by shooting himself through the stomach.
The events leading to his suicide left many residents in shock and some barricaded themselves in their homes fearing the trigger happy cop who was in hiding for more than 24 hours.
People are thunderstruck because the whole drama simply does not make sense and we think it could have been handled better on the part security wings leading to the loss of three lives.
Life may have been saved if the pursuing of Mwanza was handled skillfully and could in fact have saved the life of Mwanza himself so that he was given a chance to tell his side of the story.
But for Mwanza to kill in the manner he did because of sex simply does not add up. We think this is something that needs to be discussed further to void future lapses of this nature.
Mwanza was weak and spineless, so he did what
spineless men often do. He went after those who were completely defenseless by abusing tools in his line of duty.
We remember too that a few years go our Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) challenged government to institute disciplinary measures against Police officers for bringing shame on the Zambia Police Service and the nation.
So it is not any wonder that a grieving brother of Dickson Mwanza killed by Jackson Mwanza is traumatized that the officer was given a gun and ammunition when the same man had earlier on stabbed someone at a police station in full view of other officers.
Dickson’s parents and relatives are right to wonder too why the rogue officer was not detained or the incident reported to his duty station at State House, who could have arrested him instead of issuing him with an AK47 with 90 rounds of ammunition. Total nonsense!
His parents and relatives have been truly robbed blind of a currency that’s worth more than its weight in gold in the death of Dickson.
But to think that a combined team of Zambia Police and Zambia Air Force (ZAF) that rushed to the Chainama Golf Club area failed to flush out Jackson who was hiding in nearby bushes is certainly preposterous.
Just how does the whole crack squad surround one fugitive officer for so many hours without subduing and disarming him without casualties? This could be signs of flawed lines that need to be worked.
We shall be quick therefore to suggest to government to quickly come up with a specialized unit of hostage mediators and several other divisions which should be able to manage special circumstances and tasks with minimum ado like in the case of Jackson Mwanza.
Indeed Jackson managed to hide and elude the ZAF helicopters used in the manhunt all through out the search which ended only after Jackson turned the gun on himself to end the spectacle.
The search for Jackson ended Sunday morning when he reportedly turned the gun on himself and blew a hole in his stomach and ended his life.
We can also only imagine the trauma and fear that must have gripped the residents around Levy Mwanawasa Hospital, Chainama College and near Chainama Golf Course, in the two days following a shooting rampage resulting from a love gone wrong that ended with 3 tragic deaths.
Two of the dead were shot in Mtendere at a garage by the now dead State House police officer, Jackson Mwanza who was riding high on jealous that forced him to pursue males he suspected to be having an affair with his girlfriend, a 24 year Mtendere resident.
Needless therefore to remind our men and women in uniform that the primary duty of a police officer is to protect people and property.
Common duties of police include controlling traffic, patrolling neighborhoods, responding to emergency calls, and probably most importantly to focus on protecting people which they failed in this case.
It is also the duties of a police officer, to patrol the areas they are assigned, which sometimes include entire jurisdictions, respond to calls, enforce laws, make arrests, issue citations, and occasionally testify in court cases.
