President Yoweri Museveni has appointed his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces.
The news announced by the country’s defence ministry on Thursday evening kicked up a storm on social media, especially on X.
There have been rumours that the 48-year-old General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has been groomed to take over from his ageing father.
Museveni, 79, has ruled Uganda for four decades.
In October 2022, Museveni promoted Muhoozi from a Lt Gen to a four-star general after the latter posted on the X platform mocking Kenya.
On October 3, 2022, users of the X platform woke to Muhoozi’s unbridled rants and insensitive statements against neighbouring Kenya.
Gen Muhoozi had, in a series of tweets, poked fun at the outcome of the 2022 Kenyan general elections.
He then proceeded to boast about how he could easily invade and conquer Nairobi.
“It wouldn’t take us, my army and me—2 weeks to capture Nairobi,” he tweeted.
The post elicited fury from Kenyans on Twitter (KOT), but he later proceeded to taunt Kenyans by annoyingly posing where he should set his base after the Nairobi takeover.
Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba is a graduate of the prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy in the UK.
His meteoric rise through the military ranks has pundits speculating that he is being groomed to succeed his father.
Kainerugaba announced in March 2023 that he would contest for the presidency in the 2026 poll.
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The high-ranking UPDF general then wrote on Twitter, saying it was “time for our generation to shine.”
“In the name of Jesus Christ, my God, in the name of all the youth of Uganda and the world, and in the name of our great revolution, I will run for president in 2026,” he wrote.
Uganda is expected to hold its presidential election in January 2026. It is, however, not clear if Museveni will contest or will back a successor.
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