Porkins Policy Review

It has now been revealed that one of the ringleaders behind the Westgate mall attack was in fact a former member of the Kenyan special forces.  According to media reports only his first name is know.   Umayar was born in Nairobi to a Christian family, and was said to have left Kenya in 2005 to join Al Shabab in Somalia.  While he was a member of Al Shabab it is reported that he taught boxing and martial arts.  As of yet the Kenyan government has revealed few if any details about the alleged attackers.  There are still 23 people who are missing form the Westgate attack.  So as is the custom when events of this nature occur, the Kenyan state and intelligence services are asking for more money and power,  The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is pleading to be allowed greater freedom to take direct action against terror threats.  This is a very familiar narrative that has played out again and again with various intelligence services in the past.  Every time a spectacular attack occurs and there is evidence that the state or certain state actors were involved, the term “intelligence failure” is bandied about, and an increase of money and power is injected into the respected security apparatus.  The narrative of the Westgate attack is following a very familiar script which we must start paying attention to.  There is certainly a much larger and longer game that is being played out in East Africa.