Did Gen Muhoozi return his "twitter gun" to the Gombolola?

In the first six months of this year, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the commander of Land Forces and first son, kept his social media fans and critics on knife edge with a barrage of tweets, earning the moniker of "Twitter General."

As his twitter activity increased, some speculated he was angling for bigger things.

There was nothing under the sun, it appeared, that Muhoozi did not have a view about.

From Uganda's beautiful women to his dislike for Bobi Wine (once he deleted a profane loaded tweet about the NUP leader) to 'uncle' President Paul Kagame to the speculation that he harbours presidential ambitions, Muhoozi gave his take, which was often controversial.

His admirers constantly egged him on, many retweeting his views. His critics, on the other hand, always poured scorn on his tweets.

Then there were those who followed his tweets as a tonic for some sort of comic relief.

Indeed some of the general's tweets provided fodder for the most hilarious cartoons drawn by Cartoonist Jim Spire Ssentongo.

Then boom! Muhoozi's twitter gun fell silent.

Muhoozi was last active on twitter on June 26. Even then, it was retweet of events promoter, Balaam Barugahara's congratulatory message for those who turned up for the Muhoozi birthday concert in Moroto.

His last personal tweet was on June 25 when he posted a photo of President Museveni with a young Muhoozi.

Abachwezi! pic.twitter.com/lmaaEC1bMI

— Muhoozi Kainerugaba (@mkainerugaba) June 25, 2022

 

Since then, Muhoozi's silence on twitter is deafening.

For someone who averaged four tweets a day between January 1 and June 25, according to a count by The Nile Post, the First Son's lack of twitter activity in the last 16 days beggars the question: Did Muhoozi return his "twitter gun" to the Gombolola?, to paraphrase a saying derived from a popular local song.

A number of people that The Nile Post spoke to and follow the First Son on twitter said they were surprised but not shocked by this silence.

One, Henry Magumba, said it is possible that Muhoozi could have been stopped by his father, President Museveni, from tweeting especially on controversial political and regional issues.

Magumba's view tallies with recent media reports that claimed that Museveni had stopped his son from tweeting.

One of Muhoozi's admirers who often retweeted his views but requested anonymity said

Other sources within security told The Nile Post that some senior military officers were offended by the First Son's wanton display of authority and in some cases, impunity, on the popular platform.

The sources said some of the tweets clearly contradict the UPDF Act and had they been posted by an officer who is not as connected as Muhoozi, it would spell trouble for them.

The sources said that is is highly possible that some officers could have raised the matter with Museveni who then prevailed over his son.

For now, all that is speculation. What is not is that Gen Muhoozi's absence on twitter is being felt by his admirers and critics.