Uganda Protest Organizers Playing With Fire, President Says

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has warned protesters they are “playing with fire” if they go ahead with plans to stage an anti-corruption march on parliament on Tuesday.

Young Ugandans organised a march on social media to demand an end to government corruption.

They are partly inspired by their counterparts in neighbouring Kenya, who organised mass demonstrations that forced President William Ruto to abandon his plans for tax increases.

In a televised speech, Mr Museveni warned Ugandan organisers that their planned protest would not be tolerated.

“We are busy producing wealth… and you here want to disturb us. You are playing with fire because we cannot allow you to disturb us,” he said.

Critics accuse Museveni of ruling Uganda with an iron fist since he came to power in 1986, but his supporters praise him for maintaining stability in the East African state.

The president also accused some of the protest organizers of “always working with foreigners” to cause chaos in Uganda. He did not elaborate.

The police had previously indicated that they would not give permission for the march at the opening of the parliament building on Tuesday.

One of the main leaders of the protest told AFP news agency that they would continue.

“We don’t need police permission to hold a peaceful demonstration. It’s our constitutional right,” Louez Aloikin Opolose was quoted as saying.

The UK and US governments earlier this year imposed sanctions on Ugandan Parliament Speaker Anita Annet Among after she was accused of corruption.

She denies any wrongdoing.

The sanctions ban her from traveling to the U.K. and U.S. The U.K. also said it would freeze her assets. She denies any wrongdoing.

The UK has imposed similar sanctions on two ministers who were sacked by Mr Museveni after they too were accused of corruption.

Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu have been brought to court over a scandal involving the theft of thousands of metal roofing sheets destined for vulnerable communities in the northeastern region of Karamoja.

Both deny the allegations.