Former Uganda President, the late Dr. Apollo Milton Obote once observed that: “Museveni is a pathological liar who only tells the truth by accident.” Obote was himself reputed to be a liar by different people. It therefore is revealing for him be overwhelmed by Museveni’s lies to the extent of getting it off his chest.

Pathological lying, also known as mythomania and pseudologia fantastica, is the chronic behavior of compulsive or habitual lying. Unlike telling the occasional white lie to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or getting in trouble, a pathological liar seems to lie for no apparent reason. That is Museveni for you.

But Obote is not the only person who has made this observation, neither is he the only one whose trust Museveni has breached. Rwandans too, have been on the receiving end of Museveni’s lies on many occasions. Museveni lies through his teeth so much that sometimes he believes his own lies.

In March last year, as President Kagame made his opening speech at the national leadership retreat in Gabiro he made revelations that he personally complained to President Museveni about Tribert Rujugiro’s activities in Uganda. “I raised the issue of Rujugiro who runs businesses in Uganda and bankrolls groups that seek to destabilize Rwanda. “Initially he (Museveni) said he did not know him (Rujugiro), then I proved to him that he knew him!”

While Rujugiro portrays himself as a successful businessman only “was victimized” by a Kigali establishment that was “jealous of his success” he is mentioned by the December 31, 2018 UN Group of Experts report as the patron and chief financer of the Kayumba Nyamwasa-led P5, FNL, RNC and FDLR which are also supported by the regimes in Uganda and Burundi.

In the case of Rujugiro, Museveni’s lies are guaranteed to cause dire ramifications. In Kinyarwanda we have a saying uhishira umurozi akakumaraho abana (When you cover up for a witch, you end up childless).

In Uganda, Rujugiro has established a tobacco factory in partnership with Museveni’s young brother Caleb Akandwanaho, popularly known as Salim Saleh. Museveni is presenting Rujugiro as some kind of benevolent investor, in spite of the clear assertions by the UN report.

However, facts don’t lie. This partnership guarantees Rujugiro his most sought-after status of being untouchable in Uganda, despite of his criminal past and the fact that he is mentioned in almost every UN report on the Congo as the financier of terror in the region. The record shows that wherever Rujugiro has worked and his businesses succeeded, those countries are characterized by high levels of graft. It is the kind of countries that regularly score poorly on Transparency International indices.