Author: Phillip Matogo. PHOTO/FILE
Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, is making waves on X (twitter), again.
There is no need to rehash his tweets. Suffice to say though; the CDF clearly has an unerring instinct for the popular jugular.
However, while the CDF has tongues wagging; we seem to be missing something.
Martial Artist Bruce Lee said in the 1973 movie, Enter the Dragon, “It [the CDF’s tweets] is like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”
Of course, Lee was not specifically referencing the CDF’s tweets. That’s because the CDF was not even born in 1973.
And twitter, when Enter the Dragon was released, was largely known as a call consisting of the repeated light tremulous sounds made by a bird.
To be clear, Lee’s words come from the Shurangama Sutra, a core text for Zen/Chan Buddhist training, where the Buddha attempts to show you the moon by pointing at it.
However, if you focus on his finger, you might miss what he is showing you.
Hence, the CDF’s tweets are not revelatory of what is coming next. They are expressive of something we may miss, if we focus on them. And what we might miss is a chance at transition.
The avatar of such transition is Gen David Muhoozi, the minister of State for Internal Affairs.
I first met Gen Muhoozi in Nakasongola District.
I was Luweero Industries Limited’s senior personnel and administrative officer (SPAO), an acronym which eerily sounds like a sparrow whose wings have been clipped.
LIL is an ordnance factory.
Gen Muhoozi, at the time, was the commander of Motorised Infantry Brigade.
Although already an accomplished officer, he was genuinely self-effacing.
I first witnessed his uncontrived humility when I was master of ceremonies of an event in the barracks; a role I often played.
He was slated to give a speech.
As I introduced him to give his speech, I laid it on thick. However, he politely cut me short.
His disdain for gratuitous praise jolted him into keeping my remarks unremarkable.
If it were up to him, my introduction of him would have been done without him!
That’s how modest he was.
Before that event, I had heard soldiers speak glowingly about his ability to conjure up fire like the Bacwezi of lore. One officer said he saw him do so during the bush war.
Anyway, having spent 15 years in the barracks myself, I had heard many heroic fables about a host of soldiers; including Dr Kizza Besigye.
Clearly, many senior Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) officers are believed to have mystical powers.
The rank and file of the army seem to buy into these mythical feats as proof that their seniors are not there by accident.
To them, the likes of Muhoozi are preordained to command.
Many senior officers encourage their subordinate’s belief in such mysticism.
Not Muhoozi.
His mature self-possession speaks to historic service, not servicing the histrionic.
The public may not see this, however.
To many wananchi, Gen Muhoozi is just another soldier ready to preserve the ill-gotten gains of the ruling regime.
Yet, while the CDF comes across as a unidirectional bull in a china shop, Gen Muhoozi’s leadership speaks to omnidirectional placation.
As a consequence, he is more concerned with continuity than conservation.
The two might appear as the same thing. But, on closer inspection, you will see that the former implies unstable equilibrium in the context of permanent revolution.
This makes Gen Muhoozi the ideal transitional figure. One who’ll potentially summon our “heavenly glory”.
Phillip Matogo is a professional copywriter | [email protected]
