Former Uganda People’s Defence Force’s (UPDF) Commander of Land Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has declared he will be President of Uganda.

In a tweet on Thursday afternoon, Gen Muhoozi said only through being leader of the East African country will enable him “repay” his mother, Janet Kataaha Museveni. He however didn’t delve into details of the repayment.

“The only way I can re-pay my great mother is by being President of Uganda! And I shall definitely do it!” says Gen Muhoozi.

This is the first time Gen Muhoozi has publicly declared such interests. His declaration correlates with huge number of messages on mainstream social media services including Twitter and Facebook touting First Son Muhoozi as the next Ugandan president.

Muhoozi is still a serving military officer and President Yoweri Museveni’s Advisor on Special Operations.

In March this year, he announced that he had retired from the army after more than two decades of service.

“After 28 years of service in my glorious military, the greatest military in the world, I am happy to announce my retirement,” the powerful Ugandan First Son wrote on Twitter, a platform that has recently become his major tool of public communication.

His retirement did not materialize for reasons not told to the public. Such decisions are subject of the army’s approval under the UPDF Act, 2005.

“An officer may in writing tender the resignation of his or her commission to the board but shall not, unless otherwise ordered by the Chief of Defence Forces, be relieved of the duties of his or her appointment until he or she has received notification, in writing, of the approval of his or her resignation by the board,” reads section 66 (1) of the Act.

Muhoozi, 48, was earlier this month dropped from being the UPDF Commander Land Forces following his series of tweets deemed to be jeopardizing Uganda’s relations with Kenya as well as inciting the people of the two countries against each other.

In his first hard-hitting tweet that whipped up an uproar, Muhoozi said it wouldn’t take the Ugandan army two weeks to capture Nairobi, Kenya’s Capital.

He further said that Kenya’s former President, Uhuru Kenyatta could have won the presidential elections if he had offered to vie for the third time.

Kainerugaba said Uhuru had all the trappings he needed to seal a third term in office but he squandered the opportunity.

“My only problem with my beloved big brother is that he didn’t stand for a third term. We would have won easily!” he said.

Muhoozi rubbed salt on the wounds his earlier tweets had inflicted with a subsequent rhetorical question.

“I’m happy that members of our district in Kenya, have responded enthusiastically to my tweet. It’s still 2 weeks to Nairobi! After our army captures Nairobi, where should I live? Westlands? Riverside?” he posed in another tweet.

“Haha! I love my Kenyan relatives. Constitution? Rule of law? You must be joking! For us, there is only the Revolution and you will soon learn about it!” he said.

Both President Museveni and his son Gen Muhoozi would later apologized to Kenya and Kenyans for the latter’s ‘senseless’ tweets.

“I ask our Kenyan brothers and sisters to forgive us for tweets sent by General Muhoozi, former Commander of Land Forces here, regarding the election matters in that great country. It is not correct for Public officers, be they civilian or military, to comment or interfere in any way, in the internal affairs of brother countries,” Museveni said in a statement.

He explained that the only available legitimate forum for such engagements is the Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union or confidential interactions among the East African community and the African Union.

Kungu Al-Mahadi Adam is an experienced Ugandan multimedia Journalist with a background of fact checking and thorough research. He is very passionate about current African affairs particularly Horn of Africa. He...

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