Security experts are divided over whether the attacks in Mpeketoni, Lamu, that have so far claimed more than 50 lives were politically motivated or they were carried out by Al-Shabaab.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday blamed the Sunday and Monday raids on tribalism and hate politics, although the Somalia terrorist group has twice claimed responsibility and promised to release a video to back its claim.

THERE WAS A LAPSE

Experts who spoke to the Nation Wednesday concurred that there was a lapse in the response by security agencies.

According to Major (Rtd) Mwenda Mbijjiwe, who served in the Kenya Air Force for more than four years, the killings did not have the hallmarks of terrorism or the modus operandi of the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab.

“This was the first one where men were singled out during the attack, and more so, members of one community,” he said.

He said President Kenyatta could be right that the attacks were politically motivated, given the way they were executed.

However, Dr Nyagundi Musandu, a security analyst, disagreed with the theory. To him, Al-Shabaab was responsible.

“From my experience, the elite forces of Al-Shabaab crossed into Kenya and in all likelihood, they are still camped open air in a wooded area of  Lamu,” he said.

From terror attacks he had studied over time, the Mpeketoni massacre fitted a typical Al-Shabaab work, he said.

“Eye witness accounts give strong pointers towards Al-Shabaab: Somali, Swahili speakers, the killing of non-Muslims and the flags.”

While Maj (Rtd) Mbijjiwe says the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had information and provided it to security chiefs as indicated by the President, Dr Musandu and another analyst expressed reservations about it.

“President Kenyatta vindicated NIS when he said that they shared information they had with the Lamu security team. So the buck stops with the people who were to process this information,” said Maj (Rtd) Mbijjiwe.

Dr Musandu disagrees. “I do not believe for a moment that NIS furnished the police or the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) with actionable intelligence.

“The NIS does not know the number of fighters, the arms they bear, their routes and camping sites,” he said, adding that it was likely they generated “blanket non-actionable intelligence reports”.

Major (Rtd) Mohamed Wato, a former KDF soldier now in the US, also disagreed with reports linking the attacks to politics.
“I can tell you loudly, we are playing with fire by politicising security issues. Apparently, it is expedient for the establishment to blame hate politics but that is a dangerous route for a divided nation,” he said.

Source: Daily Nation