The country's president since 1986 was addressing "Sustainable Blue Economy" conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

"We are trying to bribe our people who invade the wetlands to get out. We are giving them money to get out.

"It's a type of bribe but it's better than crudely removing them because that will also cause other problems. You know we need votes -- if there was no issue of votes, people would just go," Museveni said.

This is the first global conference on the sustainable blue economy and is being attended by 11 heads of state.

It seeks to harness the wealth of water resources to improve economic growth.

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