MPs slam Gen Muhoozi over endorsing father Museveni for 2026 election
MPs during ng plenary session. Inset is CDF Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba
What you need to know:
- The Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba warned that no civilian would take over from his father, an 80-year-old retired army general who has ruled Uganda for nearly four decades
The Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba's conduct on social media became a subject of debate on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday as opposition MPs called for disciplinary action and a House probe into allegations that he uses the microblogging platforms to engage in partisan politics.
The 50-year-old First Son on Saturday stirred social media with posts endorsing his ageing father as he warned that no civilian would be allowed to take over from Mr Museveni who has ruled Uganda since 1986 after shooting his way to State House through a five-year guerilla warfare.
Should Ugandans start preparing for life after Mr Museveni?
Gen Muhoozi who also serves as senior presidential advisor special operations called on his “supporters” to vote his father in the 2026 general election after declaring that he (Muhoozi) had dropped his presidential bid.
The former head of the elite Special Forces Command (SFC) charged with protecting the First Family and government’s key installations has over two years been traversing the country holding public birthday celebrations and events in what critics said was strategizing to inherit the presidency.
On X (formerly Twitter), Gen Muhoozi who is currently responsible for the administration and the operational control of the Ugandan military (Uganda People's Defence Forces) has severally declared his interest to take over from his now 80-year-old father who has been in power for nearly four decades.
His erratic posts on Saturday left his more than 965, 000 followers talking when he announced that he had dropped his 2026 presidential bid.
"I would like to announce that I will not be on the ballot paper in 2026. Almighty God told me to focus on His Army first. So, I fully endorse President Yoweri Museveni in the next elections," Gen Muhoozi posted in the wee hours of September 21 morning, although Uganda's Constitution and the UPDF Act bar serving military officers from expressing political views until they are officially retired from the UPDF.
In another post that followed about 60 minutes later, Gen Muhoozi called on “millions of [his] supporters” under his pressure group, the Patriotic League Uganda (PLU) to “all of us, as one man and without exception support President Museveni in 2026. The future belongs to our mighty God alone, and we shall triumph in His name".
It's these posts and others, including the one where he warned that "No civilian will lead Uganda” after his father, a retired army general and ex-rebel, which rattled the MPs, mostly from the opposition side.
In the same post, Gen Muhoozi, who joined UPDF in 1999 at the rank of officer cadet and graduated in 2,000 from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst (the British Army's officer training school) said: “The security forces will not allow it. The next leader will be a soldier or policeman."
During plenary session in Parliament chambers on Tuesday, Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda reminded his colleagues that Gen Muhoozi's erratic posts made shortly after midnight contravene the core principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.
"A military officer is endorsing the candidate of a political party. But he is also issuing threats that no civilian will be president after his father and that the army will not allow,” he added.
Although Gen Muhoozi deleted the post about a soldier or a policeman succeeding his father, the deputy Attorney General, Jackson Kafuuzi, a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) defended Gen Muhoozi, arguing that the CDF, who is responsible for the administration and the operational control of the Ugandan military, has freedom of expression and a right to form an opinion like all Ugandans, even when the Constitution and UPDF Act bar serving officers from engaging in partisan politics.
"Article 208 which says UPDF shall be subject to civilian authority doesn’t take away a right to have an opinion or freedom of expression. Chapter four of the Constitution is one in which the Bill or rights is enshrined and at no time does the Constitution that Article 208 ousts Chapter 4 of the Constitution. Being a military man, doesn’t put you outside the ambits of Chapter 4 of the Constitution. You retain the right to express yourself, you form a right to form an opinion," Mr Kafuuzi who was appointed deputy Attorney General by Gen Muhoozi’s father in December 2019 said.
An attempt by Busiro East MP, Medard Sseggonato to have Gen Muhoozi investigated by Parliament was blocked by the deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa who said such matters should be left to Ministry of Defence and UPDF to handle.
“The UPDF has its own code of conduct, has its own disciplinary procedures. If any member of the UPDF violates their code of conduct, they are subjected to their disciplinary action. I have seen Generals going there, I have seen senior officers going there. So, I don’t want Parliament to turn itself into an investigative body, before the institution can utilise its own mechanisms in case there was a problem. I am not going to refer this matter to the Committee for investigation,” said Mr Tayebwa, a meber of the ruling NRM who serves as Ruhinda North MP.
However, some MPs believe Gen Muhoozi acts with impunity because he's the son of the president.
Erute South MP, Jonathan Odur, a former shadow minister for Defence said: “I put this question to the delegation of UPDF that we have a serving military officer (Gen Muhoozi)) who appears to be above the law. When I began to ask the questions, former Defence Minister Vincent Ssempijja felt some cold and rushed out, Jacob Marksons Oboth, the State Minister for Defence then, immediately got a call and rushed out saying ‘I am coming back’ literally running away. The then CDF Wilson Mbadi, who had the command, I asked him, ‘As the army commander, can’t you issue orders?’ The CDF told me….. ‘Do not cause me trouble’. And said, ‘Please! Leave me alone,” Mr Odur said.
