Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni clarified on Saturday that he has never contemplated giving away any part of the ecosystem of the country, except as permitted by law where forest land is exchanged for non-forested one.

Museveni warned that the government will take action on media houses and their proprietors in the country if they persist in promoting lies and racial sentiments, adding that he will not hesitate to take legal action against the media houses which deliberately defame him.

Museveni said that when he was hosted on Central Broadcasting Services Mamba Bado live talk show program on Saturday.

According to a statement released by State House, Museveni said that such lies and racial sentiments fuelled by the opposition led to the deaths during a demonstration against the proposed forest giveaway that turned violent early this month.

The Ugandan government has proposed to relocate a part of Mabira forest, the country's largest natural forest, to pave way for expansion of the nearby Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited ( SCOUL) belonging to an Indian family.

The proposed action has however raised a lot of public concerns which culminated into the death of five people in a violent demonstration last week.

Museveni called for the correct use of a nationalistic language like "our factories or our products" because investors are in the country to help Uganda build its economy. The president further observed that such wrong attitude had made African countries stagnate in terms of development.

He added that the policy of the government is to strengthen existing factories and attract new ones in order to solve the problem of employment as well as improve social services and infrastructure among others.

The president said that the question of the proposed giveaway of 7,100 hectares to SCOUL was still being discussed by government departments and no action has been taken.

Environmentalists and the general public have warned that the giveaway of the forest would cause serious environmental consequences to the country, urging the government to take alternative land.

Source: Xinhua