President Yoweri Museveni has said his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba doesn’t need to be groomed by him to become Uganda’s next President.
In an exclusive interview with France 24’s Marc Perelman at State House Entebbe this week, President Museveni asserted that Muhoozi’s fate can only be decided by the people of Uganda who cast their vote through free and fair general elections.
“Why should I groom my son? Those claiming so are not serious. The Constitution of Uganda is very clear on how one ascends Presidency,” Museveni said.
Currently, Gen Muhoozi is the Land Forces Commander and Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations.
Talks about the Muhoozi Presidency first gained prominance when it was brought up by former spy chief, Gen David Sejusa, who accused his boss, the incumbent Museveni of trying to impose his son onto the people of Uganda, hence the analogy “The Muhoozi project,”.
President Museveni however swiftly moved to rule out the allegation as baseless, adding that he didn’t see any traits of politics in his only son Muhoozi.
Consequently, calls for Muhoozi to come out and confirm whether he will seek to carry on his father’s political legacy have been loud especially from within the NRM party, with many of his fanatics finding his silence on the matter excruciatingly painful.
Commenting on the same, Muhoozi distanced himself from the speculations, emphasizing that those that had exhibited support for his alleged interest in the presidency did not represent his position on the same. He informed that he was committed on his military job which according to him, required a lot of time and hard work.
However, in 2020, Muhoozi said the phrase, ‘Muhoozi Project’ was coined by ‘evil people’ to try and destroy ‘us’ but has since been turned from a ‘curse’ into a ‘blessing.’
“Some evil people coined this phrase to try and destroy us! But trust my generation to convert every curse into a blessing! Thank you Ugandans, ” he said.
Since then, there has been a sustained online campaign, facilitated by events promoter Balaam Barugahara of selling the Muhoozi brand. Several social media influencers have also taken to social media to ‘market’ Muhoozi.
In June, 2021, Bobi Wine said by consistently promoting Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, President Museveni was preparing his son to seize power once his reign ends.
Commenting on the recent changes in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) leadership, Bobi Wine said Museveni appointed Lt Gen Muhoozi as Commander Land Forces and Lt Gen Peter Elwelu as Deputy Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) well knowing that occupiers of such positions usually end up as overall Commanders of the army.
“Muhoozi’s appointment is consistent with reports that he is being groomed to seize power once Museveni’s reign ends, similar to what dictators elsewhere on the African continent including Gaddafi-era Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Bashir-era Sudan attempted to do but with little success,” the former presidential candidate said in a Facebook statement.
“You may recall how Muhoozi promised to “beat very badly” his father’s opponents in the 2021 elections.As commander of their private army the SFC, Muhoozi has been supervising the massive abduction, torture and murder of supporters of the National Unity Platform, many of whom have since passed on. Gen. Museveni recently admitted that SFC under his son were behind these gruesome crimes.”
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