Muhoozi remarks meant to divert Opposition - FDC

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party has said the first son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s controversial political statements against the ruling National Resistance Movement party are meant to divert the Opposition from its struggle for regime change.

While addressing journalists at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi, Kampala, yesterday, the FDC party president, Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat, said Gen Muhoozi’s incitements are a well-planned move executed to portray a fight between a father and son, to provoke reaction from the Opposition who are a target.

“We believe these are some things that are well planned and executed to portray a fight between father and son, fight between son-in-law and father-in-law between wife and husband. We do know that these are the kind of mechanisms that Mr Museveni has always involved himself in to stay perpetually in power,” Mr Amuriat said.

However, he added that the FDC will not be diverted and will stay focused fighting for justice, human rights and causing total liberation of Ugandans.

“Our focus is not going to be on these fights because they bring nothing to us and mean nothing to democracy in this country. They mean nothing to the struggle against dictatorship,” Mr Amuriat said

Gen Muhoozi has on several occasions posted controversial political statements on his Twitter handle, including assertions that he does not believe in the ruling party which is chaired by his father.

On October 27, the serving four-star general took to Twitter and stated: “The only way I can re-pay my great mother is by being President of Uganda! And I shall definitely do it!!”

The  UPDF bars active-duty personnel from partisan politics.

However, during an interview with the Daily Monitor that we published yesterday, President Museveni defended his son saying senior military officers will not be punished for publicly making political statements, but will instead be “guided” – a departure from the past where officers were court-martialed for such commentary.

At the same briefing, Mr Amuriat said they are worried about the country’s public debt, attributing it to continued mismanagement of public funds allocated to several sectors.

He said the ever expanding public expenditure also has a long lasting toll on the budget through continued borrowing for non-priority sectors like the State House and foreign travels.

“Today, the country’s public debt stands at Shs79 trillion, translating into a per capita debt burden of Shs1.8m.

“Refinancing takes the largest portion of our budget, and if the government was making deliberate efforts to reduce it in the future and then tighten its grip around wasteful expenditures, this should take place soon enough before we go above the acceptable threshold of 52 percent debt to GDP ratio,”Mr Amuriat said.