Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has congratulated the armed forces and the security forces as well as the citizens for not participating in the Tuesday July 23, anti-corruption march to Parliament.
Museveni said that the planners wanted to harm the citizens of Uganda during the protests.
According to Museveni, the demonstration had two bad elements which included being funded by foreign sources that are allegedly meddling in the internal affairs of Africa.
"That demonstration had two bad elements. Element no.1, was funding from foreign sources that are always meddling in the internal affairs of Africa for the last 600 years ─ the slave trade, colonialism, neo-colonialism, genocide, economic exploitation, etc."
He warned that those involved should know that Uganda is not a neo-colony where those “shallow schemes” can be deployed.
Museveni condemned the alleged foreign funding behind the protest, attributing it to a long history of external interference in African affairs.
He assured the public that the details of their 'evil' plans would be disclosed in court as the arrested individuals face trial.
Museveni acknowledged that some demonstrators might have been unaware of the foreign funding and malicious plans, and lauded them for heeding police advice to avoid participating in the protests.
"Some of the authors and participants of the demonstrations were planning very bad things against the people of Uganda. Those very bad things will come out in court when those arrested are being tried. It is possible, that some of the participants, did not know of the planned foreign funding and the planned bad things." Museveni added
Museveni had warned protesters that they would be "playing with fire" if they press ahead with plans to stage an anti-corruption march to Parliament on Tuesday.
Young Ugandans had organised the march on social media to demand an end to corruption in government.
In a televised address, Mr Museveni warned the Ugandan organisers that their planned protest would not be tolerated.
"We are busy producing wealth… and you here want to disturb us. You are playing with fire because we cannot allow you to disturb us," he said.