President Museveni has once again turned the media into some kind of punching bag over the failures of some investors.

While touring the beleaguered construction site of Hilton Hotel Kampala at Nakasero, that is undertaken by Aya Group - a company best known for dealing in flour, President Museveni vowed to chastise and sort out newspapers that malign and "sabotage" investors. The President is also angry with the lawyers whom he accuses of the same 'sin' as the media and for being greedy by charging investors exorbitant legal fees. Aya is embroiled in a financial disagreement with a city lawyer, Muzamiru Kibeedi over unpaid legal fees amounting to $2.5 million (Shs 5bn).

But Mr. President, reality needs to be confronted here. The troubles of the multi- million dollar project that was personally launched by you in 2006 and was supposed to be opened in November 2007, are self inflicted and not an invention of the media.

Even after getting free land, the hotel failed to beat its deadline of accommodating some of the delegates to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (CHOGM) that was held last November in Kampala. The project stalled midway partly because of technical and financial problems.

While the country needs investors to provide jobs and develop the economy, Ugandans should not be taken for granted. The investors don't have to be treated with kid gloves either. As long as they operate in Uganda, they are expected to be subjected to the same laws and media scrutiny as other institutions in the country.

It's also absurd that whenever they are asked to account, the owners of this project invoke the name of the President. The President should not fall prey to the tricks of 'investors' who cry wolf whenever the media unearths their sly moves. Many of the goodies that have been promised by such investors have not come to fruition. The President has indeed been conned by many investors from China, Saudi Arabia and Europe.

Besides, several investors have set up gigantic projects in this country without necessarily courting negative media. Therefore, there must be a good reason why this particular project is so prone to negative stories, which by the way are not created by the media; we are just messengers!