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NRM group urges Museveni to groom Muhoozi for 2021
Muhoozi Kainerugaba takes salute after he was promoted to Brigadier General in Kampala last year. Why Not youth group want President Museveni to groom him to take over as president in 2021. PHOTO BY FAISWAL KASIRYE
What you need to know:
Why Not group leader says if God gave his one and only son Jesus Christ (to save the world), why not the President.
Kampala- A youth group has urged President Museveni to fight for his job in 2016 and afterwards prepare to hand over to his son, Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
The group, calling itself “Why Not”, claimed it had conducted “rigorous research” around the country for the past two years and had concluded that Ugandans want Brig Muhoozi to take over from his father.
“Your Excellency, if God gave his one and only son (to save the world), why not, we are asking, why not?” said Mr Raymond Musiime, the leader of the group. Brig Muhoozi is Mr Museveni’s son.
Mr Musiime was speaking at Makerere University at a function dubbed the Youth Leaders’ Summit on Friday.
President Museveni, who had been invited as the chief guest, was represented by the police chief, Gen Kale Kayihura. Political Science lecturer at Makerere University Salim Simba delivered the keynote address.
Also present was Prof George Mondo Kagonyera, the Makerere University Chancellor, and Prof John Ddumba-Ssentamu, the Vice Chancellor.
Mr Musiime said the youth are facing “epidemic unemployment,” urging the government to consider paying as much attention to solving urban youth unemployment as they were paying to solving rural unemployment.
He also said most of the government jobs, including the Cabinet, are occupied by older people.
Dr Simba had defined youth basing on age, a position which was sharply contradicted by Gen Kayihura.
Gen Kayihura, who said he was “quoting or paraphrasing” what he had heard the President say elsewhere, said defining youth in biological terms is defective.
“You can be young despite age if you are ideologically youthful; it is important that we define youth in revolutionary terms,” Gen Kayihura said. “How can you talk about a man like the President and you say he is old? You are sick (if you say) because there is no one on this continent who is more youthful than him.”
Probably recognising that it would be odd for him as police chief to be seen to represent the President at a function where political statements were made, Gen Kayihura kicked off his address by saying the President was away in Karamoja.
“He (Museveni) said he had been invited by a group. That when he asked you who he should send to speak to you, that you said me. I needed to clarify that because the media have a tendency to dramatise things,” said Gen Kayihura.
