Museveni Promotes Muhoozi To General, Drops Him As Commander Land Forces

President Museveni who is also the commander of the armed forces in Uganda has dropped  Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba  as the commander of Land Forces in the UPDF.

According to a message on Tuesday afternoon,  Muhoozi will now be replaced by Gen Kayanja Muhanga as the commander Land Forces in the UPDF.

On the other side, the president also promoted Muhoozi to full general whereas Muhanga has  been promoted from the rank of Major General to Lieutenant General.

The changes

The changes stem from the recent Twitter meltdown by Lt Gen Kainerugaba in which he said he would only need two weeks with his army to capture Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

“It would take us, my army and me two weeks to capture Nairobi. After we capture Nairobi, where should I live? Westlands? Riverside?”

He added, “I am happy that members of our district in Kenya have responded enthusiastically to my tweet. It’s still two weeks to Nairobi.”

The tweets have since been received with mixed reactions from members of the public both in Kenya and Uganda.

Others have since said that the social media posts could lead to a diplomatic row between Uganda and Kenya.

Gen Muhoozi has also previously made tweets in the same regards referring to the war between Ethiopian government forces and Tigrayan rebels in which he seemed to support the latter.

The social media outbursts however didn’t aurgur well with President Museveni who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces who stopped Gen Muhoozi from making any similar statements, especially on social media.

Describing it as arnachic, the president told the army council sitting in Entebbe that such communication can create enemies for Uganda.

“Especially where it involves other countries, it can have the effect of damaging our export opportunities and also causing unprincipled divisions among us,” Museveni said in July.

However,  Muhoozi later dismissed the reports as being untrue.

“President Museveni never stopped me from tweeting. That is a fabrication by people who are scared of us. And by ‘Us’ I mean the young people of this country i.e. ‘New Uganda’” Muhoozi said in a tweet.

“I want to inform everybody that I, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, do not need anybody on this earth to make me great! I am great because I am a Christian and Jesus Christ loves me!”

The social media meltdown by Lt Gen Kainerugaba has since led many to question whether Muhoozi is governed by military law which bars any serving officers to make similar statements.

Previously, Gen David Sejusa and Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde have been among the officers of the UPDF reprimanded for making almost similar comments in public.

“Gen Muhoozi is clearly above the military and state laws,” former FDC president and opposition strongman, Dr.Kizza Besigye tweeted.

Recently, Gawaya Tegulle, a lawyer dragged government to court over what he termed as failure by the UPDF to discipline Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba for going against its code of conduct.

According to documents before the Constitutional Court, , lawyer Tegule said that being President Museveni’s son, Lt Gen Muhoozi has continued to enjoy preferential treatment from the UPDF as he participates in partisan politics which is also a violation of the Constitution by also failure by the army  leadership on executing  its duties.

“Previously, acts with political overtones by serving officers like Gen David Tinyefuza(now Sejusa) and Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde have been met with quick, malevolent crackdowns by the UPDF which included suspensions and court proceedings in the name of disciplinary sanctions a manifestation of discriminatory approach in application and enforcement of the law,”Tegulle told court.

The lawyer insisted that failure by the army leadership to warn or advise the first respondent against the said actions contravenes the constitution.

He also noted that  it is wrong for the Attorney General to provide good, proper and fitting legal advice and guidance to the UPDF and the Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba is unlawful.

Lee Ray

Lee Ray is a qualified journalist dedicated to inform and update you with News, Gossip, Entertainment, Showbiz and Music!