Kill Me If You Want. You’ll Find Me in Heaven: Fearless Ssemujju Reacts to Muhoozi Threats After Lukwago Kidnap

KAMPALA, Uganda — As Uganda’s political tensions deepened on Monday following the dramatic arrest of opposition leader Erias Lukwago, another confrontation quickly emerged — this time between Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the country’s powerful military chief and first son, and one of the most outspoken opposition figures, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda.

What began as a dispute over legal summons and the detention of Lukwago escalated into a public exchange of threats and defiance that has once again drawn attention to the increasingly fraught relationship between Uganda’s security establishment and its political opposition.

On one side stood Gen. Muhoozi, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces and a central figure in the country’s political future. On the other was Ssemujju, the secretary general of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) and former Kira Municipality Member of Parliament, a veteran government critic known for his sharp tongue and refusal to temper his views even when confronting powerful state officials.

The dispute unfolded after Lukwago, the PFF president and former Kampala Lord Mayor, was seized from his home by security operatives.

As concerns mounted among opposition leaders about Lukwago’s whereabouts, Ssemujju took to social media to challenge the actions of security agencies and question the legality of the operation.

Earlier, Muhoozi had reacted angrily to efforts by lawyers associated with detained opposition figure Dr. Kizza Besigye to serve legal papers on him.

“Please serve the papers and I’ll arrest both you and whoever serves them!” Muhoozi posted.

Ssemujju responded by questioning the military chief’s respect for constitutional governance.

“How can you aspire to be our President when you are presiding over the breakdown of the rule of law? As CDF you are not above the law; you are not yet the president! You can be sued; that is our law.”

The confrontation intensified when Ssemujju publicly described attempts by Lukwago’s family and lawyers to locate the missing opposition leader.

“As of this evening, we don’t know where Erias Lukwago is being kept after his kidnap from his home today by Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Together with his wife and lawyer Medard Lubega and others, we went to Nateete police station to report a case of kidnap but they refused to register it. We were sent to Kibuli CID headquarters… We have decided to write a letter to Uganda Police,” Ssemujju wrote.

Muhoozi’s reply was brief but ominous.

“You’re next!”

For many Ugandans familiar with the country’s political history, such exchanges carry more than rhetorical significance. Uganda has for decades witnessed confrontations between opposition leaders and security agencies, particularly during election seasons and moments of heightened political activity.

Yet when Ssemujju later addressed the threat in an interview, his response was not one of alarm.

Instead, it became a meditation on mortality, power and what he described as the limits of human authority.

Ssemujju acknowledged that, like any ordinary person, he fears death. But he said fear could not alter the inevitability that awaits every human being.

According to him, history offers countless reminders that death spares no one, whether soldier, politician or military commander.

He recalled those who died during the National Resistance Army guerrilla war in Luweero, others who perished in military operations in Somalia, and still others lost in helicopter crashes and various tragedies over the years.

The point, he said, was simple.

No one escapes death.

If Muhoozi were to carry out his threats, Ssemujju argued, the military chief would eventually face the same destiny.

“If Muhoozi kills me, he too will die one day and find me wherever I shall be,” he said, suggesting that earthly power ultimately counts for little in the face of eternity.

The veteran politician also reflected on a confrontation he once had with the late Gen. Elly Tumwine, Uganda’s former Security Minister and one of the most influential figures of the National Resistance Movement era.

Years ago, Ssemujju recalled, he appeared alongside Tumwine on a television talk show during a period of heightened national debate about security powers and civil liberties.

During the discussion, Tumwine defended the authority of state security agencies to use lethal force under certain circumstances.

Ssemujju said he challenged the minister directly.

He told Tumwine, he recalled, to abandon what he viewed as arrogance toward citizens.

The aftermath of that television appearance left many worried.

According to Ssemujju, viewers and even fellow panelists feared that his public confrontation with one of the country’s most powerful security officials could carry consequences.

Many doubted he would safely return home.

Yet later, Tumwine died of natural causes while Ssemujju remains active in Uganda’s opposition politics.

For him, the episode serves as a lesson about the temporary nature of political power.

“It is God who has authority over me. Even if Muhoozi beats me to death, there is nothing he will take from me. It would be a matter of time before he finds me in eternity,” he said.

The comments reflected a mixture of religious conviction and political defiance that has characterized much of Uganda’s opposition politics over the past two decades.

Faced with arrests, prosecutions and repeated confrontations with state authorities, many opposition figures have increasingly framed their struggles not merely as political contests but as moral battles against fear itself.

Ssemujju’s latest remarks fit squarely within that tradition.

“Let him arrest me and we see if he will become an angel who will not die, who will not even fall sick, one who is even feared by malaria,” he said.

The statement quickly circulated among opposition supporters, many of whom interpreted it as a challenge to what they view as growing impunity among state officials.

The broader dispute unfolds against the backdrop of rising political uncertainty as discussions about Uganda’s post-Museveni future continue to intensify.

Muhoozi has increasingly positioned himself as a political actor in his own right, fueling speculation about future presidential ambitions. His supporters portray him as a decisive leader capable of ensuring continuity and stability. Critics, however, argue that his increasingly combative interactions with opponents raise troubling questions about democratic governance and constitutional order.

Those concerns have been amplified by recent confrontations involving opposition leaders, including Besigye and now Lukwago.

For Ssemujju, however, the debate appears less about personal survival than about principle.

“So, whether he has said what or not, I move on with my life. Whether he arrests or kills me, it’s entirely up to him.”

Earlier, Muhoozi responded to calls on him to forgive Lukwago because of his ‘worrying’ health condition while Lukwago’s wife narrated how SFC operatives grabbed her husband from their bedroom. (See Details Here and There).

Back to Gen Elly Tumwine (RIP) example that Ssemujju gave, in what appeared like his final message to Museveni, the general warned against Museveni becoming a ngamba nyenka (dictator) after he was dropped from cabinet. (See Details Here).

Meanwhile, Ssemujju Nganda has previously suggested he has already written his will since Muhoozi seems to have taken over, as reported Here.