Uganda anti-corruption demonstration follows successful protests in Kenya

Uganda’s president since 1986, Yoweri Museveni and his government have been accused of shielding corrupt officials from prosecution

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Ugandan Police arrest protesters marching on parliament during a planned anti-corruption demonstration in Kampala. July 23. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:58am, 24 Jul 2024

Ugandan security forces on Tuesday arrested dozens of people who tried to walk to the parliament building to demonstrate against high-level corruption in protests that authorities said were illegal.

Police and the military deployed heavily in various parts of Kampala where small groups of protesters had gathered. Police roughed up some campaigners as they were forced into trucks. The police frequently use force to break up demonstrations by opposition leaders and others.

The protests were organised by Ugandans who hope to emulate efforts by people in neighbouring Kenya, where demonstrations recently forced the president to dismiss almost his entire cabinet after widespread opposition to a proposal to impose new taxes.

Ugandans have been provoked by mounting allegations of corruption against the parliament speaker, Anita Among, who has rejected calls for her resignation after revelations online of allegedly irregular expenditure by her office and others close to her.

Among, a senior member of Uganda’s ruling party, has since been sanctioned by the US and the UK. She has denied wrongdoing, and her supporters say she has 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 in power since 1986, has called the street protests intolerable, and warned protest organisers in a televised address that they were “playing with fire”.