President Yoweri Museveni has broken his silence following the recent protests held in Uganda.
In a statement on July 25, Museveni highlighted what went wrong during the demonstrations alleging that foreign sources were funding the chaos.
He also accused the foreign sources of meddling in Africa’s affairs over the years citing the promotion of slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism, genocide and economic exploitation.
Museveni sent a message to the alleged funders of protests, saying “Uganda is not a neo-colony where those shallow schemes can be deployed.”
“That demonstration had two bad elements. Element no.1 was funding from foreign sources that are always meddling in the internal affairs of Africa for the last 600 years ─ slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism, genocide, economic exploitation,” Museveni said.
Additionally, the Uganda head of state claimed that some protest organizers and participants had malicious intentions toward the nation.
He also noted that perpetrators of the demonstrations were planning very bad things against the people of Uganda.
“The second element, was that some of the authors and participants of the demonstrations, were planning very bad things against the people of Uganda. Those very bad things will come out in court when those arrested are being tried,” noted Museveni.
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“It is possible, that some of the participants, did not know of the planned foreign funding and the planned bad things. That is why, they should have listened to the police advice, not to go on with the demonstration. But they rubbished the police advice.”
Museveni further claimed that the protests were not peaceful as claimed, if so, he would have joined in on them.
“Otherwise, if it was a patriotic, anti-corruption, peaceful demonstration, coordinated with the Police, I would have been the first to join.
Museveni Says Planners of Protests Wanted to do Bad Things
According to Museveni, the planners of Tuesday’s protests did not heed to his advice of not participating in the protests despite his address to the Nation a few days prior.
“The planners of Tuesday’s demonstration, however, were not bothered with such issues. I politely advised them a few days ago, in my address to the Nation.
“They, obviously, thought that my advice was of no consequence. Please, Ugandans avoid these mistake makers. The evidence in court will shock many. As I said, above, the planners of these demonstrations wanted to do very bad things,” he said.
Additionally, Museveni revealed what most of the protestors were charged with, citing lack of enough information by the police.
“The charge by the Police of “idle and disorderly”, I suspect, was used because the deployed personnel did not have all the information,” added Museveni.
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Details of the Operation
At the same time, the head of state said the operation was a high-quality, intelligence-led operation and expressed relief that there was no blood-shed.
“This was a high-quality, intelligence-led operation. I have most of the information. Next week, I will make a broadcast and discuss more on the issue. I praise the Lord that there was no blood-shed on Tuesday,” he said.
He also stated that he was in charge of the fight against corruption and will take action on the responsible parties upon receiving evidence.
“The accounting officers are the guardians of government money, procurement and personnel (jobs, welfare). They let us and themselves down. I am now leading this little war. We fought the bigger war. We shall win this one also,” he concluded.
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