Uganda tightens security ahead of Museveni's swearing-in ceremony

With just a day to the inauguration ceremony of Uganda president, Yoweri Museveni for another five-year term, security has been tightened in the capital Kampala and other major towns across the country.

On Tuesday, there were several foot and vehicle security patrols by the military and police on the streets of Kampala, News 24 Kenya reports.

Museveni was on February declared winner of the 2016 presidential election. This will be his sixth swearing-in ceremony as president.

Fourteen heads of state are expected to attend the swearing in ceremony scheduled to take place at the Kololo ceremonial ground on Thursday.

Uganda’s Minister for the Presidency, Frank Tumwebaze said the presidents expected include those from; Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kingdom of Lesotho, South Sudan, Tanzania, Mali, Togo, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Swaziland, China, Nigeria and the Russian Federation.

#Tanzania's president J.P #Magufuli arrives for Museveni's swearing in ceremony due on Thursday.(State house photos) pic.twitter.com/R84aScVhnM

— Rachael Akidi (@rakidi) May 11, 2016

“Rwanda will send a representative because President Paul Kagame will be attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) to be hosted in Kigali,” he said.

Museveni has been in power for over 30 years since he won a five-year guerilla rebellion in protest against the results of the 1980 general elections.

The opposition have vowed to disturb Museveni’s swearing-in ceremony, claiming there was fraud in the February 18 elections.

Kayihura warned that police would not tolerate protests by the opposition aimed at disrupting the swearing-in ceremony.

He revealed that some of the opposition leaders had been put under house arrest, while others detained to avoid them from causing chaos during the ceremony.

The government has also banned the media from reporting protests by the opposition.

According to the Human Rights Watch, the February election was deeply flawed as local observers declared they were not free and fair.

International electoral observers had presented a mountain of evidence of how the process fell short of international standards.

Leading opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and its leader, Kizza Besigye had called for an international audit of the results.