Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni leaves the InterContinental Hotel, Nairobi after the Mindspeak conference graced by various civil society and business stakeholders on April 30,2011. HEZRON NJOROGE
By WALTER MENYA, wmenya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, April 30 2011 at 18:47
Posted Saturday, April 30 2011 at 18:47
A defiant Uganda President Yoweri Museveni refused to back down on the use of force against demonstrators.
The Ugandan leader arrived in Nairobi Saturday to give a talk at the Mindspeak forum where he told opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye that he has to inform the police before holding the now famous walk-to-work protests over surging prices for staple foods and gasoline, after inflation accelerated to 11.1 percent in March, from 6.4 percent a month earlier.
According to him, the protests are illegal.
“It is not a problem for the opposition leader to walk. All we ask for is that if you want to walk, you must inform the police,” President Museveni said.
According to him, the police have been employing brutal force to disperse the protestors because “we have information that they were going to loot.”
Ironically, the two rival Ugandan leaders were both in Kenya Saturday – Museveni at the plush InterContinetal hotel enjoying the trappings of power and Besigye at Nairobi Hospital undergoing treatment for injuries inflicted by state security personnel.
Dr Besigye arrived in Nairobi on Friday night to seek treatment for injuries sustained during his fourth arrest in a month. TV footage showed him under attack with pepper sprays by plainclothes policemen who extensively damaged his vehicle on Thursday.
He underwent surgery at the hospital Saturday and was not in a position to see anyone, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga who cancelled a planned visit to console the Ugandan opposition leader.
The Ugandan opposition leader's condition was, however, expected to improve by Sunday.
Television footage had shown plainclothes officers breaking the windows of the opposition leader’s vehicle with a hammer before spraying him from hand-held cans as he waved to supporters.
However, Mr Museveni told the press and civil society activists that the police used the paper spray as a reaction to Dr Besigye’s provocation.
“It is the opposition leader who first sprayed against the police. He sprayed the police with the pepper spray,” he said.
"I think the lenses of CNN don't see very well because they did not capture this opposition leader attacking the policemen. I'm told that women use pepper spray to defend themselves against rapists but I had never heard of it before," he said.
"But it was that leader who started the attack," insisted the Ugandan president.
Asked whether he planned to visit Dr Besigye at the Nairobi Hospital, President Museveni curtly replied: “I wish him a quick recovery.”
He continued: “He preferred a hospital in Nairobi (yet) we have good hospitals in Uganda…I wish him quick recovery.”
Two people died in the riots in Ugandan capital Kampala on Friday as the food riots continued. However, Mr Museveni denied that the situation would escalate.
He said the two deaths were “accidental” and that the government would investigate them.
“We are investigating these accidental shootings where they are happening but the situation won't escalate,” he said.
President Museveni landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport shortly before midday Saturday before heading to State House Nairobi, where he held brief talks with President Kibaki.
He was met at the airport by Nairobi Metropolitan minister Njeru Githae amid tight security. Journalists who had camped at the airport were not allowed inside the presidential pavilion.
Once in town, the section of City Hall passing in front of the Intercontinental Hotel was sealed off as a thick security cordon was thrown around the venue of the forum.
His security pushed and shoved journalists while a civil society activist, Benji Ndolo was arrested for shouting down the President as he delivered his speech.
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