Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda with an iron fist since 1986, has promoted his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba to head the army, expected by observers to one day take over from him. This announcement, made public on the evening of Thursday March 21 by the Ministry of Defense in a press release, comes after years of speculation about the future of Mr. Kainerugaba, a 49-year-old general accustomed to controversial statements on social networks.
Mr Museveni, 79, is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. Although Muhoozi Kainerugaba has in the past denied any intention of succeeding him, he has enjoyed a rapid rise through the ranks of the Ugandan army.
In a message posted in 2023 on Twitter (since renamed He appeared to lash out at his father: “How many people agree with me that our time has come? We have had enough of the old people who govern us, dominate us. It’s our generation’s time to shine. »
After a controversy in 2022 sparked by a message from his only son threatening to invade Kenya, the president asked him to no longer tweet about the country’s affairs. Mr. Museveni then apologized to Kenya, and nevertheless defended his son, describing him as a “very good general”… and promoting him to that rank a few days later.
As a senior military official, Mr. Kainerugaba is normally barred from speaking publicly on political matters, but he has often interfered in these discussions, causing diplomatic headaches for Uganda. His tweets in support of the Tigrayan rebels in Ethiopia angered Addis Ababa, and his thoughts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the 2021 coup in Guinea also raised eyebrows.