Westgate attack blamed on weak intelligence
Weak intelligence, corruption among government officers and insufficient cooperation between the spy agency and police have been blamed for the terror attack at the Westgate shopping mall on September 21.
An Ipsos Synovate survey also revealed that 67 per cent of Kenyans said the attack by al-Shabaab could have been prevented had the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and police cooperated.
Forty-seven per cent of the respondents blamed the attack on weak intelligence, while 19 per cent believed that it was due to corruption among government officials.
Sixteen per cent attributed it to insufficient cooperation between NIS and police. Sixteen per cent gave other reasons while 19 per cent declined to answer the question.
The survey — which was conducted between November 1 and 9, and released on Thursday — also revealed that 63 per cent of Kenyans believe that the attack succeeded because of the participation of some Kenyans.
Most Kenyans were not satisfied with the information about the attack.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku was rated as a government officer who performed badly in dealing with the Westgate attack, followed by KDF and Inspector-General of Police David Kimaiyo.
Kenyans rated the Kenya Red Cross at 96 per cent as an institution that performed well in handling the terror attack.