Museveni: Why I Promoted My 48-Year-Old Son Muhoozi to Full General Despite His Mistakes

Gen Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni, the Ugandan president, has acknowledged that his son has made mistakes. But the 78-year-old long serving president defended his decision to promote his son from the rank of lieutenant general to a full general, top most rank in the national army, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF). 

On Tuesday, October 04, President Museveni, the Commander in Chief (CiC) of the Ugandan armed forces, announced the promotion of Muhoozi to the military rank of general. But the president dropped his son as the Commander of UPDF Land Forces, replacing him with Kayanja Muhanga, who was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.

The promotion of the president’s son, who is only 48 years, was shocking given it came hours after Muhoozi joked about his army capturing Nairobi in two weeks and expressed disappointment with Kenya’s democratic ideals that barred Uhuru Kenyatta from seeking a third term and proposing ‘the revolution.’

Two days after the controversial tweets and a day after he promoted his son, Museveni has explain his decision to elevate Muhoozi to the highest rank in the UPDF despite his mistakes which include reckless tweets on sensitive security, political and diplomatic matters.

In a statement he issued on the issue of his son’s tweets and promotion, Gen Museveni admitted that his son had made mistakes as a public officer and should have used the Peer Review Mechanism  of  the  African  Union  or  confidential interactions in Uganda, the East African Community (EAC)  and  the African Union (AU) instead of making public comments on Kenyan elections or making statements that suggest Kampala’s interference “in any way, in the internal affairs of brother countries.”

Museveni said that despite Muhoozi’s reckless tweets, the first son has contributed positively to the development of Uganda and has potential to make even greater contributions.

Promoting Muhoozi, the president continued, was one way of encouraging him to make further positive contributions to his motherland.

“Why,  then,  promote him  to  full  General  after  these comments?    This  is  because  this  mistake  is  one aspect  where  he  has  acted  negatively  as  a  Public officer,” wrote Museveni.

“There  are,  however,  many  other  positive contributions  the  General  has  made  and  can  still make.  This is a time-tested formula –discourage the negative  and  encourage  the  positive.”

Meanwhile, President Museveni has penned an apology to President William Ruto and asked Kenyans to forgive him and Muhoozi. (Read Story Here).

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