President Yoweri Museveni has warned Kyadondo East member of parliament Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine that he will continue to be blocked from holding public rallies and music concerts until he stops preaching hate to Ugandans.
Museveni has weighed on the contentious issue of public rallies and assemblies, and said those who preach hate and disunity amongst Ugandans will not be allowed under his government.
Opposition politicians especially four-time presidential candidate Kizza Besigye and the popular Bobi Wine have lately faced the full wrath of police and the army for holding public assemblies in different parts of the country. Bobi Wine has had several of his music concerts cancelled or blocked by police.
Museveni boasted in the statement that, as it has happened in the past, those who preach hate will always "pay the full price" for holding illegal assemblies and processions. Besigye has been dragged out of several radio stations in the past weeks and his public rallies blocked while Bobi Wine is battling a court case for alleged disobedience of statutory duty, when he held an anti social media tax in 2018.
He was arrested while in a procession enroute to police headquarters to record a statement last week and arraigned before court. He was later remanded before being granted bail on Thursday. Among his bail conditions, the legislator is not allowed to engage in unlawful assemblies although the MP warned that he will not slow down in his quest for justice and freedoms for all Ugandans.
Museveni said by allowing hate preachers to carry on unabated, terrorism and violent activities have thrived in countries such as Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Belgium, Norway which has led to the murdering of a lot of people and loss of property (looting).
"You cannot be rallying and processioning for an illegitimate reason – preaching lies, preaching sectarianism, preaching hate. Those [countries] who made mistakes to tolerate such bogusness, paid a heavy price." said Museveni.
"Did you see the massacre in New Zealand? How about the ones in Sri Lanka recently, in France, in Belgium, in Norway etc.? How about the mega problem that occurred in Rwanda? These tragedies in those areas started with pseudo – and bogus preachers." Museveni added.
The president said those who want to assemble publicly or hold procession must have a legitimate reason but those who preach hate or want to decampaign investments and progress in Uganda will not be allowed.
"Those who have ignored this logic have paid a heavy price. Besides, it is really criminal to get actors who create unnecessary controversy when Uganda is making so much progress. Of course, there are also problems. However, the problems we have today are problems in progress. The problems we had in the past were problems in decline of the economy and country." Museveni said.
Museveni said although there are problems in country, for one to say that Uganda is collapsing and declining is dishonest or uninformed.
Museveni said although Bobi Wine is among those who preach hate, police should not have broken his car windows to arrest him, but should have just towed his car to wherever they wanted him. Police used gun butts to break into Bobi Wine's vehicle to arrest him on Easter Monday at his One Love Beach in Busabala. Bobi Wine had defiantly driven there after his music concert got blocked by police over security reasons. He was later placed under house arrest for about a week.
Bobi Wine last month called upon Ugandans to rise up and protest against Museveni's government so as to bring an end to what he called misery under the NRM government. Besigye has also said his upcountry rallies and radio programmes are aimed at undoing Museveni's lies about the country's progress.
In a speech at the launch of book cataloging the gains the Muslim community has made under the NRM government, Museveni advised Bobi Wine to go to Somalia and hold his music concerts from there.
"Our development is hinged on the peace we have created. The jobs are coming because of this peace and stability. That is why it is suicidal for anyone to try and destabilise this peace. I hear some entertainers claim Uganda is not peaceful. They should go to Somalia and do concerts there," he said.
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