Terror attacks, denial reveal depth of Uganda's vulnerability

Last week, Uganda was back in the news. A spate of bomb blasts went off in different parts of the capital, Kampala, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens, many of them severely. The attacks, which were for all intents and purposes acts of terrorism, went off at some of the most strategic locations; one right next to Parliament, and another in the prencicts of Kampala Central Police Station.

Naturally, the unfortunate attack attracted sympathy from neighboring countries. Innocent lives were lost. However, it later became an outward trend that ended up exposing Uganda’s security forces’ poor coordination and political opportunism. 

Terrorism can affect any country. But a country’s counter terrorism capabilities is conceivably the only factor that determines how this unfortunate phenomenon can be put to an end or how long the mutinous act can be sustained by the bombers.

In Uganda, it has been an evident factor that the country’s security system is highly vulnerable. The uncoordinated nature of the security apparatus, lack of clear reporting structures and an unhealthy competition within the ranks are some of the factors that make Uganda most vulnerable.

As I write this article, several Ugandan opposition politicians are in custody over supposed acts of terror owing to another spate of incidents that saw dozens of citizens hacked to death in different parts of the country. Security forces, instead of scientifically following leads to get to the bottom of the attacks saw this as an opportunity to lay siege on President Yoweri Museveni's opposition.

Two legislators were arrested, despite water-tight alibi that put them not only far from the scenes of crime but also out of the country where it was inconceivable that they could coordinate the heinous acts. Despite there not being any thread of evidence linking the two legislators to the incidents - infamously know as Bijambiya - the duo are rotting in prison after being badly tortured.

This has only led to speculations that the security agencies are behind the killings as a way of finding a pretext to blame opposition politicians. Fast-forward to the bombings that recently rocked the country, already, blogs linked to Ugandan security are reporting blaming the bombs on "a neighbouring" country.

This kind of political opportunism and escapism will never address the real structural and capacity hitches in Uganda's security apparatus. To the contrary, it can only degenerate and worsen an already vulnerable state of affairs.

Creating capable and responsive security forces calls for accountable leadership and an informed intelligence system. In the case of Uganda, it seems the country, for some decades now, lacks this central grouping of imperatives.

Consequently, when such an unfortunate event takes place, the security agencies in charge of intelligence are the first ones to blame for, it is an irrefutable point that it either does not have the capacity to collect important intelligence on crucial matters of security or does not have the ability and the will to interpret and cross-check important intelligence reports shared to them from various partners.

In the recent bombings, Uganda lacked both. This justifies why they opted for political opportunism to cover their slipups. Certainly, not a smart move for it exposed them further.

Here is what happened.

The Ugandan security forces, specifically their many intelligence services got an alert from the United Kingdom that there were impending attacks targeting Uganda. The country’s security forces did not give due importance to such sensitive information, probably for two critical reasons.

Suffice to say that they have been busy elsewhere. It is a known fact that the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, which ought to have been at the centre of operations to act on the Intel provided by British counterparts, has been busy elsewhere. For the past five years, CMI's preoccupation has been to coordinate the recruitment and training of Rwandan dissidents with the aim of destabilizing Rwanda.

They have also been at the centre of coordination of logistics for these groups and also chaperoning leaders of RNC and RUD-Urunana every time they come to Uganda. The third preoccupation has been to hunt down, apprehend (or rather abduct) and endlessly torture innocent Rwandans found in Uganda, especially those who refused to joint these outfits hellbent on destabilizing Rwanda.

With their hands full therefore, the matters of security of Ugandan citizens have taken a back seat. With such intelligence officers, it would be foolhardy to expect responsiveness towards terrorists’ threats.

In addition, due to internal weaknesses in terms of both capacity and effective coordination, the security organ in charge of feeding the right information to the defense system and trigger the right actions against any imminent threat, often opts to cover their weakness by providing wrong information, usually targeting the wrong root causes of the problems.

When this is done, you should not expect to have the problem solved soon, as it will only give time and space to the insurgents and terrorists to operate swiftly. The biggest losers are always the people. This kind of political opportunism that is nurtured within Uganda’s security forces, will take the country to an obvious undesired course.

Lack of coordination and capacity within the security organs can only be solved by adequate training tailored to the country’s security threats, developing an effective intelligence system that does not rely on lazy information gathering and propaganda to cover for its inabilities.

Key to achieving this paradigm change within Uganda’s security forces is accountable leadership. Uganda can go on and on living in denial and blaming a neighbour for all its shortfalls. But one question shall remain to be answered and it is; where is the Ugandan leadership and what does it do? Is Rwanda, the neighbour they keep blaming for all their shortfalls, in control of everything that occurs in Uganda? If so, Uganda needs to blame herself.