Uganda's President Museveni Warns Against Anti-Corruption Protests

Uganda's hardline President Yoweri Museveni has issued a stark warning to citizens planning anti-corruption protests on Tuesday, cautioning them that they are “playing with fire.”

The planned protests come in the wake of deadly anti-government demonstrations in neighboring Kenya, where at least 50 people were killed in clashes with security forces, according to figures from the National Commission on Human Rights.

Museveni, 79, who has ruled Uganda with an iron fist for nearly four decades, declared in a televised address on Saturday that the anti-corruption march will not be tolerated.

“What right do you have to generate chaotic behavior? We are busy producing cheap food while people in other parts of the world are starving. You want to disturb us? You are playing with fire because we will not allow you to disturb us,” Museveni stated during his three-hour-long address.

Despite the government's stance, many young Ugandans are determined to proceed with the march to the country’s parliament, defying the police's refusal to grant a protest permit.

The Uganda Police Force described the planned protests as “potentially anarchic” in a statement on Monday, warning it “shall not tolerate disorderly conduct.”

Defiant youth protesters have begun sharing their photos on social media, urging fellow citizens to remember them if they don’t make it home alive.

“Just in case I get abducted or die in the march, use this photo for creating awareness. Tell mum I played a fundamental role in saving my country! I know she will be happy!” said activist Ashiraf Hector on X.

Another wrote: “Tomorrow, very early in the morning, I will join my fellow young people as we march to parliament against escalating corruption in Uganda. We will come face to face with murderers, and if things go south, this is my official portrait.”

A group of lawyers and activists stated in a letter on Sunday that the police could not legally stop peaceful protests.

“The police cannot prohibit a demonstration but have the power to regulate it to ensure it takes place within the law,” the letter said, urging President Museveni to “ensure that the constitutional right to assemble and demonstrate peacefully is not violated with impunity by security agencies.”

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine voiced his support for the protest, clarifying that it was “organized by the young people of Uganda” and not his NUP party.

Wine also revealed that his party’s secretariat had been cordoned off by security forces and some party leaders had been “violently arrested” ahead of the Tuesday march.

“The regime’s effort to clamp down and make the protest appear like an NUP initiative is meant to weaken it by making it seem partisan,” he said in a statement on X.

Uganda struggles with widespread government corruption, with an estimated Sh. 10 trillion ($2.7 billion) in public funds diverted each year, according to the Inspectorate of Government (IGG).

Last year, Uganda scored 26 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks countries on a scale of zero to 100, with zero being “highly corrupt” and 100 signifying a country is “very clean.”

“The thieves are parasites that must be stamped out,” Museveni said about his administration’s fight against graft last month, adding that his ruling NRM party “does not victimize anybody without proof of corruption.”

“That is why some people think that the NRM is soft on corruption,” he stated, noting that some corruption cases against public officials were being decided in court.

However, those advocating for the protest are unimpressed with the government’s handling of corruption, urging Ugandans to “#March2Parliament” on July 23 to “#StopCorruption.”

Some have also called for the speaker of the parliament, Anita Annet Among, to resign. Among was among high-profile Ugandan politicians sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom for corruption earlier this year.

“Among is designated due to involvement in significant corruption tied to her leadership of Uganda’s Parliament,” according to the US State Department.

Among has pushed back against the sanctions, calling them “politically motivated” and claiming they were triggered by Uganda’s defiance of international pressure after passing a strict anti-LGBTQ law last year.