Yes: there was a security lapse! To demonstrate this; it was only on Tuesday, July 13, that a Police "Bomb Squad" vehicle started to appear on Kampala streets - after the July 11 bombings; and well after al-Shabaab's first warnings.

About a year ago al-Shabaab warned that they were going to bring the Somali fight to Uganda for its involvement in the United Nations AMISOM troop presence in Mogadishu.

As usual there was the self-serving chest-thumping by the NRM operatives that they would stop al-Shabaab in its tracks before it reached Kampala. And now this!

The Minister of State for Internal Affairs, Matia Kassaija, says they did not want to unduly scare the people by warnings of the imminent terror.

What is better: to keep the people on their toes; or keep silent and then have them be blown to smithereens? This is disturbing logic, but even worse, disastrous practice.

The Inspector General of Police, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura says that companies and organizations prefer to employ private security guards, and where possible only consigning the Police to the periphery of their quarters.

That is to say, the Police was not welcome inside the Kyadondo Rugby Ground or the Ethiopian Restaurant in Kabalagala. Is he then saying that the Police have no predominance over urgent security matters?

According to the Kumi MP, Oboi Amuriat, some information could have filtered in 45 minutes before the attacks were carried out - enough time for the Police to have acted to have prevented the carnage.

If you go by Kayihura's logic, they were unable to gain entry because of private security guards.

What kind of justification are these people trying to put forward for their incompetence?

If the Kenyan Police at Ongata Rongai in Nairobi, Kenya, had had such qualms three days ago, they would not have stopped a suspicious Somali who was destined to Uganda with explosives.

Granted that it is difficult to anticipate a terror attack, but apart from the earlier overt warnings from al Shabaab, the security should have picked up threatening signs emanating from Mogadishu.

There, al Shabaab went into action executing one or two people and cutting off the hands of others - in a bizarre show of Sharia law.

They deemed to have caught these people watching the World Cup within their houses. Those were adequate signs to prime off the Ugandan security.

But we are now flogging a dead horse: the blasts have taken place. Now the argument is our presence in Mogadishu in support of an uncertain government in a non-State.

On whose grounds is it justifiable that Uganda keeps its troops in Somalia in the presence of a continuing threat at Uganda?

The AU and other UN states have balked at sending troops to Somalia. Only we and Burundi, more or less a vassal state of Uganda, are there.

Why? Well, in the first case, for military adventurism and maybe a dubious honour.

But there is also the lure of money. On the UN side the US is giving money to AMISOM to shore up US "strategic interests" in the Horn of Africa.

 Uganda has no verifiable strategic interests there; even if it had it would not be able to financially sustain its presence there.

The allure of money is also on the side of the brigand elements in or outside the Somali Transitional National Government (TNG), al Shabaab itself, or the other shadowy group, the Ahlu Gunnah.

In one way or the other, elements of these groups, are operating in the lucrative piracy business off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

Some of that money maybe finding "investment" capacity in Uganda. By being in ANISOM, Uganda is importing the Somali disagreements in all their madness and complications into the relaxation joints of Kampala - and it might branch into all other crowded places, such as churches and markets.

The first links of the July 11 Kampala Bombings to al Shabaab, came from the US paper, the Washington Post.

It was able to quickly find its contacts inside the Somali groups in Mogadishu.

The confirmation by al Shabaab's Sheikh Ali Mohammed Rage, came a little later.

Thus the Americans are able to "enter" the crooks and crannies of the Somali "watering points" to discover the intricacies of the workings of al Shabaab, Ahlu Gunnah, their Yemeni alliances and then, the Al Qaeda, superstructure.

It is notable that the unexploded bomb that was got in a Makindye lodge, appeared to have been planted by a Ugandan, not of Somali origin.

If that is the case it means that these brigand Somali groups have crawled into the fabric of Uganda's criminal groups, which operate at all levels.

Only the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) can get to the bottom of what really is going on.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it blog comments powered by Disqus

< Prev		Next >