There have been over 20 fires which have destroyed property and lives in Ugandan schools since the year began. Radio Katwe would like to look into what is going on because we cannot believe that the only institutions in Uganda which are careless are schools.

It is true that Ugandans rarely think twice about fires. In fact most of us go about our lives never caring so much about taking fire prevention measures. The capital city Kampala where the most precious things are has only the most rudimentary fire-brigade to speak of. So how come rampant fires have not been a way of life until just a few months ago?

The most suspicious cases are the schools of all places, that are bursting into flames almost every day. We have heard the Police talk of indisciplined children, carelessness and so on, but sincerely what has caused our children to become destructive all at once? Did children from Masaka to Moroto, Kasese to Tororo somehow organise and agree that 2008 is the year of burning things? For us we think that the national scale, timing and nature of these attacks leave no doubt that this a coordinated, targetted plan by a very powerful group that has a national reach.

New Vision on Monday wrote a good report on these fires and it said that they have been 25. On Monday two more fires in schools in Mukono and elsewhere brought the fires to 27.

The Overseer of the Intelligence agencies, General David Tinyefuza, said that the fires are the work of a rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces also known as the ADF.

According to one analyst who knows the method of Museveni and his NRA henchmen, as soon as Tinyefuza blamed the over 25 school fires on the ADF, he gave the game away.

This analyst says that Museveni has always relied on campaigns of terror against the general population and the common man. After he orders his men to commit the atrocities, he blames them on the people whom he is fighting.

This is what Museveni did in the time of fighting Amin, in the Luwero Triangle and he had been doing it in northern Uganda since 1988, according to the insider.

Ugandans have been wondering about the fires. They are wondering how so many fires can break out at about the same time. They are also wondering why the fires should be affecting mainly schools, the most defenceless and vulnerable.

There were days in the past when Uganda did not have a vibrant private sector and that is when you could say schools would get burnt from negligence.

Today you see many schools which get a lot of school fees and the school officials make sure they care about things like fire extinguishers. People are asking why these fires should all be coming now.

The arson took a new twist on Sunday when the offices of the Red Pepper newspaper were attacked and also burnt. Red Pepper wrote after the fire that soldiers covered in hoods came to their office headquarters at Namanve and threw explosives into the compound. A generator costing over 100million shillings was destroyed.

Red Pepper is a paper which is believed to be close to the powers that be. So maybe Museveni decided that Red Pepper should also be burnt so that when he comes out and claims it is the work of ADF, Ugandans will believe it as Red Pepper is well connected to the government.

The speculation is that to make the argument of ADF more convincing, attacks against other businesses like the New Vision which is a state paper could be staged.

Some sources who know Museveni's methods and timetable say that it is only a matter of time before the offices of the Daily Monitor also experience an incident (fire, attack etc) engineered by Museveni's agents and the ADF will take all the blame.

Another target could be Uganda House, the headquarters of the Uganda People's Congress party. Before the Budo fire in April, one afternoon Radio Katwe informers say the Minister of State for Security, Amama Mbabazi, drove to Uganda House.

It was a Saturday. Mbabazi came with his bodyguards. He got out of his car and looked up at Uganda House, he looked at the floors, at the restaurant, then he drove off. The visit was all rather strange. What was he inspecting? What did he want?

It will be no big surprise if Uganda House is on the list of prominent properties to be attacked in this campaign of terror.