If you were a president would you openly admit to bribery which you were involved in?Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has confessed to bribing citizens to leave wetlands prone to landslides.
He told delegates at the Blue Economy conference in Nairobi that he does so “in order to protect his votes”.
“We are trying to bribe our people who invaded the wetlands in Uganda. To get them out, we are giving them money. I know it’s a type of bribe but we need the votes,” Museveni told the delegation.
Museveni admitted another major challenge to the environment as industrial effluent is deposited into water bodies.
“We have started the war against bad fishing and those using crude equipment,” he added.
All the boats operating on the lake get electronic registration to have them monitored.
He said vegetation around the Lakes should be protected to ensure water getting on the lake is sifted.
Speaking during the official opening of the conference, Museveni noted that he had feared that the conference would propagate the agenda of “external people”.
“I first had reservations about this summit, fearing that it was another of cliche arrangements spearheaded by our external friends,” he said in his address to the delegates.
Museveni has, in the past, blamed foreigners for funding his political opponents to undermine his rule in Uganda.
In the case of MP Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, the Ugandan Head of State insinuated that “foreign money” had been channelled through an NGO to “show the world Uganda is not stable”.
“However on deep scrutiny, I noticed this is about our survival, linked with the Sustainable Development Goals. The linkage between our water resources and survival cannot be over-emphasized.
“The greatest challenges to a sustainable blue economy are; soil erosion, pollution, population pressure, bad farming practices like cultivation on steep slopes and need to politically appease the population hence failing to enforce certain regulations,” the 74-year-old president elaborated.
The three-day, Sh800 million conference kicked off on Monday with 17,600 participants sourced from 183 countries, as well as various of organizations and agencies.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was at hand to welcome foreign heads of state and pledged his administration will adopt appropriate policies, strategies and mechanisms to harness the blue economy, confront, head-on, the challenge of waste management and plastic pollution, ensure responsible and sustainable fishing, and ensure safety and security in the high seas.