Opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye says he has evidence that first son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba was illegally recruited in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), the country’s national army.
Currently aged 48 and serving as the Commander of UPDF Land Forces, Lt Gen Kainerugaba has been in recent weeks over his birthday celebrations and the political statements made during these parties and on his Twitter account.
On May 16, Besigye told KFM Hot Seat that Muhoozi was recruited in the army illegally and has continued to be promoted in a manner that breaks the law and principles of the UPDF.
The Pearl Times Archives team now produces Besigye’s previous explanation to back up this claim. In a 2013 dossier, the opposition leader wrote an open letter to President Yoweri Museveni telling him his regime was a military dictatorship. In this letter, Besigye broached the issue of Muhoozi’s irregular recruitment and elevation. Here is what Besigye wrote:
Muhoozi’s illegal recruitment, meteoric rise and preferential appointments
Recruitment, training, deployment, and promotions of UPDF officers are regulated by the UPDF Act and Regulations- Conditions of Service for officers (CS-O).
All these are available at the Government Printers for anyone interested. These determine what’s lawful or illegal. Sec 51(1) of UPDF Act states that “Authority to recruit persons into the Defence Forces is vested in the Defence Forces Council”.
Regulation 7 of CS-O provides the procedure for Application for Commission. A person shall not be enrolled into the UPDF unless he/she fills a prescribed form and has been selected by a committee.
After enrollment, one must undergo the prescribed basic military training; during which, he/she is graded and reported upon by the officer in charge of training. After the training, one must appear before the Commissions Board for a decision of the Board whether that person shall be commissioned to the UPDF and whether he should go for an officer training in a military academy.
This is the legal process that Muhoozi did not submit himself to before getting enrolled and training as a Cadet Officer. How was he selected to attend the course at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK?
Regulation 25 of CS-O provides for the promotions of officers. It states: (1) The promotion of an officer shall be recommended by the commanding officer, and the recommendations shall be considered by the Board on three different occasions and shall be within the following service brackets—
(a) after 12 months’ commissioned service, to Lieutenant;
(b) after five to six years’ commissioned service, to Captain;
(c) after 11 to 13 years’ commissioned service, to Major;
(d) after 18 to 20 years’ commissioned service, to Lieutenant Colonel; and
(e) after 21 to 23 years’ commissioned service, to Colonel.
(2) Notwithstanding subregulation (1) of this regulation, exceptional circumstances may be considered in addition to commissioned service.
(3) Promotions of officers above the rank of colonel shall be made by the commander in chief on the advice of the High Command.
(4) The High Command may vary the service brackets for promotions under this regulation.
Muhoozi illegally joined the UPDF in 1999 as a Cadet Officer; he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in 2000. He became a Major in 2003; Lt. Col in 2008; and attained his current rank of Brigadier General in 2012, after 12 years of commissioned service.
He ought to have been considered for promotion to rank of Colonel after 21 years of commissioned service. Why hasn’t the “clogging on ranks” caused by lack of money to retire other officers affected Muhoozi? What exceptional circumstances advised his meteoric rise to his current rank in less than half the required time?
Is it also a coincidence that the “school friends he asked to bring along for elementary training during his “A” level holiday” have all had meteoric rise in rank and appointments of UPDF? I am not questioning their “patriotic ideological interest in the Army” or whether they are “Godsend to the Army” as characterized by Mr. Museveni. What I question is whether they follow the laws and regulations that govern UPDF.
When Muhoozi was, in 2007, admitted to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA, he had to be given a temporary rank of a Major to enable him access to the course because he was still too junior for it. Were there no qualified officers with an appropriate rank to do the course?
READ: Museveni Breaks Silence on Muhoozi 2026 Presidential Bid
