Muhoozi Kainerugaba: A General retiring at 48: What next?

By Wilson Akiiki Kaija 

Has he retired or it's a prank?

Three days before announcing his retirement from the army, on Tuesday, Lieutenant-General Muhoozi Kainerugaba mentioned what he called a childhood memory: a conversation with his father, President Museveni, in which the latter told his son what he needed to do to walk in his shoes.

The key message was that Muhoozi had to be ready to sacrifice himself just like his did.

Retirement?

In April 2004 Lieutenant-General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (C-i-C), retired from the army.

Depending on how one counted backwards, it was 18 years of service as C-i-C (since 1986); 23 years as Commander of the National Resistance Army (NRA) which became UPDF; or 33 years as head of different armed groups fighting for power (since 1971).

In 2004, Amama Mbabazi, the Minister of State for Defence at the time, hailed the retirement as a historic moment:

"This is the first time in history that we have an army officer of the forces, commander-in-chief of the army, who is also President of Uganda, retiring voluntarily in accordance with the rule of law."

At a colourful ceremony at Bombo Military Barracks, Mbabazi awarded the president a plaque made of glass, stone and metal.

The army leadership, in recognition of his meticulous service, promoted the president from Lieutenant-General, a rank he had retained since the first pipping ceremony in February 1988, to General.

In his speech, which lasted nearly two hours, Museveni made it clear the retirement was only in form, not substance. He said he still had many battles ahead and he had to fight them.

"I need to retire in order to fight new battles," General Museveni said.

He mentioned it, at that time, that the battlefield ahead was of political nature.

Fast forward to 8 March 2022 and Museveni's son, Lieutenant-General Muhoozi, has announced on his official Twitter handle that he has retired from the army.

"After 28 years of service in my glorious military, the greatest military in the world, I am happy to announce my retirement," tweeted Muhoozi, the Commander of Land Forces in the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF).

He added: "Me and my soldiers have achieved so much! I have only love and respect for all those great men and women that achieve greatness for Uganda everyday."

 

Whether or not this is true is a discussion for another day, considering the fact that Muhoozi has made statements which the army leadership has either distanced itself from or largely remained silent about.

At least officially, Muhoozi has been part of the national army for 24 years (not 28) but this doesn't matter. President Museveni himself keeps 'editing' the years he has spent in the struggle (depending on the context of his struggles).

The years 1981 and 1971 have for a long time been a constant in his narratives, talking about the establishment of the National Resistance Army (NRA) and Front for National Salvation (Fronasa) respectively. Later in his long presidency, however, he extended his participation in the "struggle" back to mid-1960s when he was still a student in secondary school. With a feeling of satisfaction, Museveni, in power for 36 years, says he has been in the struggle for 56 years to liberate Uganda.

And he's still fighting, he says, just like he warned on that April day in 2004. One would be justified to say he retired into other battles/wars.

Back to General Muhoozi, whom Museveni has repeatedly called his Avenger in reference to the meaning of the name Muhoozi. "He's my avenger; he fights my enemies," Museveni said last month.

Muhoozi has attained some of the best training from some of the best military academies in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Egypt, Israel and South Africa among others. He has served in some of the most sensitive and senior positions in the army, including, among others, as Commander of the Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB). This was later expanded and renamed Special Forces Command (SFC). He is currently the Commander of Land Forces, the biggest force of the army. He's also Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations.

General Muhoozi is one of the most decorated military officers in Uganda. His rapid rise through the ranks left some observers asking the question: what next? At 48 and in service for 24 years, he's already a three-star general and at the top of the army leadership.

When talk of Muhoozi following his father into the army surfaced in the late 1990s, Museveni dismissed the talk saying his son had only joined a Local Defence Unit (LDU), one of the many auxiliary forces formed to restore security especially in rural areas. In 1999, Muhoozi formally joined the army as an officer cadet and was sent to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, UK from where he graduated as a commissioned officer in 2000.

And the journey up began. In March 2001, President Museveni won an acrimonious election, the second under his rule but the first in which a member of his inner circle, Dr. Kizza Besigye, was his main challenger. In May 2001, as several African heads of state gathered in Kampala for Museveni's swearing-in ceremony, the then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi announced that he had promoted Muhoozi from Lieutenant to Major. This meant he had jumped rank of Captain.

By September 2011 Muhoozi was a Colonel; a Brigadier in August 2012; a Major General in May 2016; and Lieutenant General in February 2019.

While Museveni also chose to retire as a three-star general in 2004, he was 60 (not 48) and was preparing to return the country into multiparty politics ahead of general elections two years away.

There's been talk of a Muhoozi Project, an alleged plan by President Museveni to prepare General Muhoozi to succeed him. Both Museveni and Muhoozi (plus their handlers) have dismissed this a mere rumour.

In late May 2013, President Museveni convened a High Command meeting at State House Entebbe during which he asked his top generals "not to underestimate Muhoozi". Then a Brigadier and commanding the special forces, Muhoozi was in attendance. The Independent Magazine later quoted the president as saying individuals, "constipated with ambition and deceit", had made it a daily issue to harangue Muhoozi and talk about a non-existent "project".

Earlier in March 2013, General David Sejusa had run into exile in the UK after authoring a document in which he alleged the existence of a "Muhoozi Project". Sejusa added that there was a plan to eliminate all those military officers opposed to the "project".

Back at the High Command meeting, Museveni praised his son: "I am most pleased that Muhoozi has turned out to be a very serious officer, quiet and devoted to the building of the army. He has already helped us to build a Commando Force and Paratrooper Force which some of the earlier actors had either failed or refused to build," the was quoted as saying.

The president further applauded his son for authoring for him high quality papers on military strategy and doctrine, adding that the only other officer who done that was Lieutenant-General Katumba Wamala. Ironically, Wamala was at the time Land Forces Commander. Two days later, Wamala was promoted to General and appointed Chief of Defence Forces, replacing General Aronda Nyakairima.

The president went on: "To vilify, demonise, castigate, harangue in a demented way against such an officer is sickness in a metaphorical sense. If you have no objectivity to see value, then your leadership qualities are in question."

Museveni described as "abashaija babi" or bad men, those who opposed the young commanders such as Muhoozi.

Over the past one year or so, Muhoozi's official Twitter account, @mkainerugaba, has been very busy with the three-star general commenting on different topics, both local and foreign. From a war in Ethiopia and South Sudan, military coups in West Africa, visits to different capitals and dining with heads of state, UPDF military adventures, historical journey of force that became UPDF, to Rwanda-Uganda relations. No topic is off limits for him. And he has a sizeable following, more than five hundred thousand.

Perhaps aware of how the world views him, he's always careful to frame a positive narrative about his contribution in uniform. He paints an image of an all-conquering general.

His eye is always focused on 'tomorrow'.

At 6:20pm on Saturday 05 March 2022, General Muhoozi tweeted: "My father, President @KagutaMuseveni, told me as a young child 'You will only be as great as me if you are willing to suffer for Uganda as I have!' Ugandans will make their decision if I have walked in his footsteps."

What next? If he's allowed to hang his uniform, what can a 48-year-old General do in retirement?

Walk into his father's footsteps, perhaps.

The author Wilson Akiiki Kaija is a journalist