A video-grab of President Museveni while addressing the nation on July 20, 2024.
Organisers and participants of the planned anti-corruption march to Parliament tomorrow will go on as planned despite President Museveni warning against it on Saturday.
The proponents argued that it was ironic the head of state, who since June has back-to-back renewed his warrior spirit to crush the thieves in his government, was disconnected from the reality of widespread public anger over corruption.
In a televised address on Saturday, President Museveni warned the youth against the protests.
“These people [planning a demonstration] are unfair and inconsiderate and should check themselves or we will have no alternative, but to check them. Don’t be tempted to bring chaos, [and] step on people’s products on the road,” he said.
“My question is, what right do you have to seek to generate chaotic behaviour... when you have cheap food... And here you want to disturb us. You are playing with fire because we cannot allow you to disturb us,” he warned.
“When you demonstrate in a place like Kampala, people are selling their products on the roadside. Are you going to step on people’s products? You are playing. Don’t have such ideas in your head,” Mr Museveni added.
The President did not speak to why police and army would instead not offer protection to the demonstrators over the short distance from Railway Grounds, where they plan to assemble, to Parliament, barely 100 metres away.
The organisers said they are targeting Parliament because it is a house of people’s representatives with the core mandate to appropriate taxpayers’ money, provide oversight on its utilisation and ensure transparency. Instead, they contend, the institution has lately been adversely named in corruption scandals.
“If he chooses to kill us, I can assure you [tomorrow] is when the whole world will see who is against corruption in this country,” said Mr Gideon Tugume, the executive director of the Human Rights Defenders Association (Hurida).
“Many people have suffered because of corruption, we would expect the President who has been calling upon Ugandans to join him in the fight against corruption, to join us tomorrow because the walk is not against his office or presidency, but against the cancer that has eaten up our economy,” he added.
Mr Habib Buwembo, the National Unity Platform (NUP) party activist and a human rights defender, said: “The President should realise he is a servant of the people and when the people get dissatisfied with some issues, they have a right to demonstrate peacefully,” he said.
“What I expect from them is to protect us; the protesters tomorrow,” he added.
The ex-Makerere University Guild President Shamim Nambasa, one of the organisers of the planned march, yesterday said the President should not block the anti-corruption fight.
The demonstrators, Ms Nambasa said, will be peaceful, and claims of chaos are being manufactured by the State as a pretext for security forces to violate their constitutionally guaranteed rights to express their dissatisfaction over the poor conduct of public affairs.
“Our message is very clear, we want something tangible done against corruption. We have heard so many promises, but we don’t see them implemented, but we continue to see more and more corruption scandals unfolding,” she said.
Mr Marlon Agaba, the executive director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, and constitutional lawyer Peter Walubiri, described the President as an “unrealistic corruption fighter”.
Mr Walubiri said: “What did the President mean when he called upon Ugandans to join him in the fight against corruption? His concerns that some properties will be destroyed during the protests are unjustifiable. As we applaud young the people for joining us in the fight against corruption, we call upon the security agencies to protect them instead of fighting them.”
