July 23, 2024 — The Pan-African Unity Dialogue (PAUD) has condemned threats of violence by Ugandan dictator Gen. Yoweri Museveni against the country’s youth who plan a Kenya-style march on Parliament to denounce corruption beginning July 23, 2024.
“The right to peaceful protest is enshrined in article 29 of Uganda’s constitution. We call upon the country’s security forces to refrain from unlawful orders and not to harm peaceful marchers,” said Dr. Ron Daniels, President of the Black World 21st Century (IBW21) and convener of the PAUD. “We also call for the immediate release of the leadership of the National Unity Platform who were arrested in what appears to be a preemptive strike by the regime even though NUP had nothing to do with organizing this anti-corruption march.”
The Associated Press reported on July 22, 2024, citing Robert Kyagulanyi, a.k.a. Bobi Wine, leader of NUP, that several party leaders had been “violently arrested” after armed security forces surrounded the party headquarters.
Bobi Wine X post. July 23, 2024
Earlier, on Sunday, July 21, Gen. Museveni said the protesters would be “playing with fire” if they went ahead with the anti-corruption march which has been promoted on social media under the hashtags #StopCorruption #March2Parliament and #RespectOurTaxes.
Just as with Kenya’s protest—which succeeded in blocking tax-hikes on essential commodities including fuel and food—Uganda’s anti-corruption march has been organized by the so-called Gen-Z on social media, without identifiable leaders who can be arrested by the government. “The PAUD calls upon General Museveni to refrain from using harmful language against peaceful unarmed marchers that could lead to deadly incidents. Please take some lessons from neighboring Kenya,” Dr. Daniels said.
A reported 50 people have been killed by security forces since Kenya’s protests started on June 18, with 39 dying on June 25, in Nairobi, the capital. Kenya’s President William Ruto, who had initially denounced some marchers as “criminals” later apologized for the deaths. He promised compensation to the victims’ families and scrapped the proposed tax-hikes. The Kenyan Police chief was also forced to resign.
Corruption amongst senior Ugandan officials and Museveni’s own family is rife.
Both the U.S. and U.K. earlier this year imposed sanctions on Uganda’s Speaker of Parliament Anita Among for corruption. The U.S. also imposed sanctions on Gen. Peter Elwelu who carried out a massacre of more than 150 people, mostly women and children, in Uganda’s Kasese region in 2016, soon after elections said by the opposition to have been rigged by Gen. Museveni. In an Al Jazeera interview, Museveni, who later promoted Elwelu said he was the one who gave the orders.
In 2018, a Chinese national named Patrick Ho was convicted in U.S. federal court of paying a $1 million bribe to Gen. Museveni and his foreign minister for concessions in the oil and banking industry. Patrick Ho also promised to enter into a lucrative business partnership with Museveni’s family as part of the bribe.
The trial was in the U.S. because Ho used a New York City-based bank account to wire 50% of the bribe money. According to U.S. prosecutors at the trial, Museveni’s share of the bribe was flown to Uganda in cash by Patrick Ho wrapped as a “gift.”
“The reason why Museveni opposes the anti-corruption protest by the youth is because the fish stinks from the very top,” said Milton Allimadi, a member of the PAUD and coordinator of the organization’s Africa Task Force. One of the several campaigns led by the Task Force through the years is called “Stop Museveni” who has been responsible for spreading violent militarism in east and Central Africa, by invading Rwanda in 1990, Congo in 1996, and South Sudan in 2013.
The Pan-African Unity Dialogue (PAUD) is an umbrella body that contains several African, African-American, Caribbean, and South American, Pan-African organizations. The organizations meet on a quarterly basis to strategize and develop plans for tackling pressing socio-economic, political, and war-and-peace challenges facing African peoples on the continent and in Diaspora. The meetings are convened by PAUD founder Dr. Daniels, professor emeritus, York College of The City University of New York – more info at www.ibw21.org/paud
Featured image: Screenshot of arrest as Uganda gen Z March 2 Parliament (YouTube).
