The Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in his address to the nation on Tuesday reacted with defiance to international criticism of his government crackdown on the opposition, and Facebook closing down the ruling party’s account, two days before presidential and parliamentary polls.
He said Uganda’s sovereignty should be respected.
President Museveni who is seeking re-election for a sixth term in office, said that his National Resistance Movement (NRM) government is well-informed and therefore, doesn’t need lectures from anybody.
“Uganda is ours, it is not anybody’s. There is no way anybody can come and play around with our country, to decide who is good, who is bad, this one we will stop. We cannot accept that,” the president said.
The Ugandan President’s comments come days after social media giants Facebook closed accounts of NRM bloggers because it had reason to believe these bloggers were seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of the general elections.
“This month, we removed a network of accounts and pages in Uganda that engaged in CIB (Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour) to target public debate ahead of the election,” Facebook’s head of communication for sub-Saharan Africa, Kezia Anim-Addo, said Monday in an email to AFP.
Museveni 76, further blamed opposition parties and leaders, especially the musician turned politician Bobi Wine, who is currently his strongest rival, for not respecting the Covid-19 measures during his campaign rallies.
Military operatives have since been deployed to various parts of the country ahead of the elections.