Ugandans have been left in utter shock after President Yoweri Museveni appointed his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba as Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) a title given to the overall commander of the nation’s military force.
Museveni, who has been in power since 1986 recruited his son into the Army in 1999 and he has been catapulting from one rank to another something that has been baffling many Ugandans including serving and retired senior security gurus.
Gen Muhoozi was promoted to the rank of a four star General about two years when he tweeted threatening to attack Uganda’s neighbour Kenya. His father Yoweri Museveni removed him from the position of Land Forces Commander (LFC) to ease tension but promoted him him to full General.
Muhoozi has been serving as his father’s special advisor on special security operations and has been making countrywide tours a move that has been seen by many as a way of canvassing for support for his presidential ambitions.
In fact, people who have been hardly trying to ‘sell’ him to the populace have often demanded that he be retired from the Army so that he can concentrate on searching support for his presidential ambitions as he aims to succeed his father.
However, Muhoozi has often denied harboring presidential ambitions and has often gone bare knuckles with senior military officers who have often castigated his swift military rise and also doubted his political dreams.