Ugandan protesters planning to proceed with a banned anti-corruption march on Tuesday are “playing with fire,” warned President Yoweri Museveni in a televised address late Saturday.
“Some elements have been planning illegal demonstrations, riots,” said Museveni, who has ruled Uganda with an iron fist since 1986. He accused the protesters of including “elements working for foreign interests” without providing further details.
Earlier on Saturday, Ugandan police informed the organizers that the planned protest in the capital, Kampala, would not be permitted, citing intelligence that “some elements were trying to take advantage of the demonstration to cause chaos in the country.”
Frank Mwesigwa, the police operations director, told AFP, “Demonstrations can only be allowed under our mandate as long as they are not causing public disorder and disrupting lives of lawful citizens.”
Despite the police ban, protest organizers vowed to continue with the demonstration. Louez Aloikin Opolose, one of the main protest leaders, asserted, “We donโt need police permission to carry out a peaceful demonstration. It is our constitutional right.”
The protesters aim to march past parliament, which they accuse of tolerating corruption. “Our starting point in the fight against corruption is parliamentโฆ and the demonstration is on irrespective of what police is saying,” stated protester Shamim Nambasa.
Uganda ranks low on the Transparency International corruption perceptions index, placing 141 out of 180 countries, with higher rankings indicating less corruption.
The Ugandan anti-corruption protesters have been monitoring the often deadly demonstrations in neighboring Kenya, which have been ongoing for more than a month. Initially peaceful rallies against controversial tax hikes in Kenya evolved into a broader anti-government campaign, with activists demanding action against corruption and alleged police brutality.
According to the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, at least 50 people have been killed and 413 injured since the Kenyan demonstrations began on June 18.
