Author: Musaazi Namiti. PHOTO/COURTESY
The tweet was deleted as soon as it went up on August 16. But Ugandans read it with great interest and are keeping screenshots of it.
Army chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, never one to mince words when he is expressing his views on what used to be Twitter, now X, launched a savage attack on his brother-in-law Odrek Rwabwogo. He posted a picture of President Museveni and Mr Rwabwogo with the caption, “Mzee, you arrested my friend, Michael Mawanda, and you are comfortable taking pictures with the BIGGEST THIEF in Uganda?”
The post left many Ugandans thoroughly flabbergasted. But it was not accompanied by direct evidence. And you have to remember that when people dislike each other intensely or disagree and become angry, they can say anything — sometimes things they will later regret and/or apologise for.
It is hard to know, especially for outsiders, if Gen Muhoozi regrets what he posted or whether he did apologise. But it is well known that prominent families, such as President Museveni’s family, always try to keep everything that is going wrong or has gone wrong within the family a closely guarded secret.
You have to create the impression that all is okay — that you are a happy family that knows how to resolve internal matters amicably. If, for example, there is a bitter row/fight about something and a nosy reporter is inquiring about it, you say nothing.
You do not issue statements or denials. You want everything to be viewed as a baseless rumour and you will be hoping that the passage of time will make people forget about it and turn their attention to something else. We do not know how Mr Rwabwogo reacted, and he cannot even take Gen Muhoozi to court because that can only create more public interest in the matter.
Nonetheless, Ugandans have cocked their ears at the allegation and would love to hear much more, not least because they think more revelations could herald the beginning of the regime’s end.
While Gen Muhoozi did not provide evidence to support what he posted, many people may take him seriously, arguing that since he is a powerful man, with ears to the ground across all social strata and regions of Uganda, he was sure of what he was talking about. In other words, he had everything on good authority.
For the First Family, the deleted post is going to fuel all kinds of rumours. There is an army of fake content creators always eager to pounce on anything that looks like a scandal about the First Family and blow it out of all proportion, exaggerating it in the most sensational way imaginable so that it goes viral.
Days after the post was deleted, an audio note emerged on WhatsApp in which someone speaking in a broad Kinyankole accent is commenting on the post Gen Muhoozi made. The headshots of Gen Muhoozi and Mr Rwabwogo are used in the audio note to grab people’s attention.
Telling Ugandans that the audio is made up is not going to change anything. They still want to listen and draw their own conclusions. If President Museveni was still addressing news conferences as he used to, it would have been interesting to hear what he has to say about the bitter fight between his son and his son-in-law.
Imagine a reporter asking something along these lines: Mr President, your son launched a blistering attack on his brother-in-law. Is the First Family now washing its dirty linen on social media?
Predictably, he would be evasive, as politicians often are when answering difficult questions, but how a question is answered says a lot about the answer you are getting.
Mr Musaazi Namiti is a journalist and former
Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected] @kazbuk
