President Yoweri Museveni has described as rubbish reports that he is milking the COVID-19 pandemic to make political gains.
Museveni made the remarks during an interview with a local television station in which he also said holding elections next year would be sheer madness.
Uganda is set to hold general elections but the process is now doubtful with increasing voices that it be postponed over the coronavirus pandemic that appears to have no end until a vaccine is discovered.
“It would be madness to say, you go and gather, I don’t think it will be wise,” Museveni said.
It is the first time Museveni has aired his views on the debate that has been gaining momentum in recent weeks.
It was started by a group of lawyers led by Denis Namara who went to court seeking an order that the polls slated for February next year be postponed.
Namara said that the country cannot go into electioneering in the midst of a crisis.
He suggests that the elections should instead be held in 2023.
Uganda is in its 45th day of a nationwide lockdown announced towards the end of March 2020 as the president devised ways to avoid the spread of coronavirus that has ravaged the globe.
“Who would wish for this so that I speak and become popular, rubbish, idiots,” Museveni said on reports he is using the lockdown to make political capital against his rivals.
Museveni has addressed the nation 13 times in the lockdown and some of his critics say he is using the process to campaign and make political capital, something the president has denied.
“He wants to be the commander, where orders come from and are followed without question,” Kizza Besigye, FDC Kingpin said on TV midweek.
In the interview, he also commented on the political woes facing one of his former close allies, Gen Henry Tumukunde saying he ‘crossed the line.’
“Tumukunde went beyond that and there is evidence,” Museveni said.
In March, the former spy chief was arrested and jailed on treason charges, weeks after he declared his intentions to challenge Museveni in next year’s polls.