East Africa can’t just have links to criminal cartels
A US indictment linking East African elites to a Mexican drug cartel has exposed troubling cracks in the region’s security systems and silence from its leaders.
The decision by Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) leader Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to sack Retired Lt Michael Katungi Mpeirwe from roles in the pressure group, following his indictment in the United States, offers welcome relief amid a disturbingly muted regional response to these explosive allegations.
Ordinarily, the unsealing of the US indictment — charging individuals from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania with conspiring to supply arms to one of the world’s most violent drug cartels — ought to have triggered urgent national inquiries.
