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Police and the military deployed heavily in various parts of Kampala where small groups of protesters had gathered. Some campaigners were roughed up by police as they were forced into trucks
Ugandan youth are emulating their counterparts in Kenya, forcing the administration to act against what they allege widespread corruption among politicians and senior officials. Ugandan security forces arrested dozens of people who tried to walk to the parliament building to demonstrate against high-level corruption in protests.
Authorities maintained that it was an unlawful protest. Police and the military deployed heavily in various parts of Kampala where small groups of protesters had gathered. Some campaigners were roughed up by police as they were forced into trucks.
The protests are organized by Ugandans who hope to emulate efforts by people in neighboring Kenya. Protests in Kenya forced President William Ruto to dismiss almost his entire cabinet after widespread opposition to a contentious tax proposal.
Ugandans have been provoked by mounting allegations of corruption against the parliament speaker, Anita Among, who has rejected calls for her resignation. The anti-corruption campaign started with revelations online of allegedly irregular expenditure by the office of the speaker and others close to her.
The U.S. and the U.K. had sanctioned a senior member of Uganda’s ruling party. She has denied any wrongdoing, and her supporters say she’s been unfairly targeted in a country where corruption is rampant among officials. She is now the subject of an official probe into the source of her wealth as well as charges she misused parliamentary resources.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, an authoritarian leader who has been in power since 1986, said at the weekend that street protests were intolerable. Museveni warned protest organizers that they were playing with fire.
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Museveni’s government has long been accused of shielding corrupt but influential officials from criminal prosecution. After his re-election to a sixth term in 2021, Museveni promised to crack down on corruption. But many Ugandans are not hopeful. Local media outlets frequently report on corruption issues. But activists, opposition figures, and others who try to stage street demonstrations face arrest under a law that requires them to first notify police of their plans to rally.
