Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has criticised the country’s opposition for what he described as attempts to import unrest into Uganda, accusing them of relying on crowds and funding from outside the country to destabilise the nation.
Speaking during his New Year address at Nakasero State Lodge on December 31, 2025, Museveni said Uganda narrowly avoided protests similar to Kenya’s Gen Z-led demonstrations witnessed in 2024 and 2025, noting that decisive action by security agencies prevented the situation from escalating.
The veteran leader said preventing the unrest called for a collective national response, supported by decisive action from the police and intelligence agencies to thwart what he described as organised efforts to undermine his government.
According to Museveni, intelligence warnings were also provided by other opposition figures who, he said, volunteered information to the government about plans to infiltrate Uganda with chaos similar to that seen in neighbouring countries.
He added that intelligence gathered from apprehended opposition politicians, alongside information from the public, played a key role in disrupting the alleged plots before they could materialise.
“We have had bad and indisciplined conduct by some of the opposition, including wrong politics in their heads and prompted by parasitic foreigners that back them,” Museveni said.
“They make many mistakes, including the transportation of nomadic crowds from other parts into their rallies. Many Ugandans familiar with the scheme are flabbergasted by it and often link up with us to dissolve the scheme. Do you remember Gen Z plans for July 4, 2024, to riot like those of Kenya? They were rejected by the people,” he added.
Museveni said he had simultaneously prohibited police from caning demonstrators during protests, terming the practice archaic and unacceptable.
“Regarding the police methods, I reject the act of caning lawbreakers. Some police officers in the world do it using batons. I reject it; it must stop. Teachers and parents used to cane us, but it was the wrong method.”
Museveni stated, while maintaining that the use of teargas and water cannons remains lawful and preferable to live bullets when dealing with riots.
The remarks come amid claims by human rights activists that the Ugandan and Kenyan governments have been coordinating crackdowns on peaceful protesters, including allegations of cross-border deployment of security forces during demonstrations.
In November last year, activist Bob Njagi, who was abducted and detained incommunicado in Uganda, claimed that members of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) were deployed to Kenya during the 2024 Gen Z protests.
Speaking on Citizen TV during an interview following his return from Uganda, Njagi alleged that Ugandan soldiers told him they had been sent to Nairobi to help suppress the protests.
He said the officers became friendly with him during his detention at a UPDF camp outside Kampala, where they confided that they had crossed the border disguised in Kenyan police uniforms.
