Lt.Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has dismissed reports that there are misunderstandings between him and his father, Yoweri Museveni also President of Uganda.
Earlier reports suggested that Gen. Muhoozi and his father have secretly been bickering over circumstances no one in the ruling circle is willing to explain.
But Gen Muhoozi also the commander land forces in the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDFl in a Twitter post on Friday, November 26 described the bickering reports as “misinforming”.
“I hear some saboteurs have been misinforming the public that me & my father have differences,” Gen Muhoozi wrote.
He added: “We have no differences at all! Mzee Museveni still leads me like he always has for the last 47 yrs. And Almighty God leads our entire family just like He has since the beginning of time!”
Muhoozi Kainerugaba was born in 1974 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He attended school in Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden while his father was still fighting the Idi Amin and the Milton Obote regimes. When his father became the country’s president in 1986, Muhoozi returned to Uganda to continue his education.
After leaving high school he started military training. He attended the University of Nottingham in the UK and subsequently joined the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) and has rapidly moved up the ranks over the years.
Shortly after presidential election in 2016, Muhoozi Kainerugaba was promoted to the rank of Major General. A year later President Museveni appointed him Special Presidential Adviser for Special Operations, then in 2019 he was appointed Lieutenant General and in 2020 was promoted to Commander of Special Forces Command (SFC), an elite military group that guards President Museveni. Recently, General Muhoozi was appointed as Commander Land Forces in the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF).
Appearing on Uganda Broadcasting Centre television in 2017, Muhoozi declined to comment on the likelihood that he will pursue the presidency in the future. A critical analysis of his promotions over the years however, suggests that he will.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera that same year, his father said the question of whether his son will succeed him can only be answered by ‘Muhoozi and the people of Uganda’, adding that ‘it is not in the short run.’
The president also noted that anyone interested in the presidency would be expected to respect the constitution, which he said stipulates that a president of Uganda must be elected by the citizens in a popular vote under universal adult suffrage.