6/7/2026
In a prime time televised address on Saturday, July 4, Museveni said concerns over human rights and the rule of law had been raised during a recent meeting with the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU).
President Yoweri Museveni has defended the recent wave of arrests of opposition figures and other Ugandans by security agencies, insisting the operations are aimed at tackling crime, corruption and impunity rather than reversing Uganda’s democratic
In a prime time televised address on Saturday, July 4, Museveni said concerns over human rights and the rule of law had been raised during a recent meeting with the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU).
He argued that security agencies had stepped in to fill gaps left by weak institutions and limited ideological commitment within the State.
Without mentioning specific arrests, Museveni said recent security operations had been misunderstood as a return to past abuses.
Security forces have come up to fill the gap. In the past I didn’t have enough cadres to fill this gap. This is a counter-offensive against corruption, crime and impunity,” he said.
The President maintained that security agencies were operating within the law because suspects were ultimately being presented before courts.
Therefore, what the security forces have been doing recently is not a regression in the fight for freedom.”
He said critics claiming that Uganda was returning to the excesses of previous regimes were mistaken.
“Those who have been putting out the slogan ‘Bizeemu’, that the bad things of the past are back, are wrong.”
Museveni contrasted the current situation with previous governments, saying political suspects then often disappeared or were killed without appearing before court.
The past meant that when someone got abducted would not come to court but would end up as a dead body in Namanve Forest or River Nile.”
The president also showed in the televised address, images of the public executions and paraded human remains, which were common occurrences in the past regions.
His remarks come after Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba attracted criticism for publicly claiming to detain some opposition figures in his “basement” and for overseeing a series of high-profile arrests that have drawn concern from religious leaders, civil society groups and foreign governments.
But the president defended the CDF, referring to his recent comments about other developed countries where no such freedoms exist.
Indeed Gen Muhoozi recently pointed out one useful fact. He said many of these people, including those who criticise the NRM, go to Dubai where the place is disciplined. You cannot find in Dubai the press doing what they are doing here.”
