By Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Kenya. On 4th October this year, H.E the President of Uganda also a Commander in Chief of Uganda People’s Defense Force Yoweri Kaguta Museveni fired his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba as commander of the nation’s infantry forces after he tweeted provocative threats to capture the capital of neighboring Kenya.
Lt Gen Muhoozi made headlines on 23 this month when he tweeted that he would only need two weeks with his army to capture Nairobi the capital city of Kenya.
The provocative tweets
It all started when Muhoozi blamed the former President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta for not standing for a third term in the August election.
*Tweet 1-* “My only problem with my beloved big brother is that he didn’t stand for a third term he would have won easily.”
*Tweet 2-* “Haha I love my Kenyan relatives, Constitution Rule of law you must be kidding! You must be joking. For us, there is only the Revolution and you will soon learn about it.” Muhoozi said.
*Tweet 3-* ”It wouldn’t take us my army and me 2 weeks to capture Nairobi.”
*Tweet 4-* ”I am happy that members of our district in Kenya have responded enthusiastically to my tweets, still two weeks to Nairobi.”
*Tweet 5-* “After our arm captures Nairobi where should I live Weskands or Riverside.”
*Tweet 6-* Kenyans on Twitter I forgive you all for all the insults you’ve hulled against me please let us work together to make East Africa great.”
Was the Ugandan government plotting to capture Nairobi?
The government of Uganda through the Ministry of foreign affairs strongly distanced itself from the remarks of Muhoozi on Twitter. The ministry issued a statement clarifying that the government of the Republic of Uganda does not conduct its foreign policy and other official businesses through social media. Adding that it treasures the bilateral relation between its people and Kenyans. Uganda also vowed to reiterate its commitment to good neighborliness, peaceful co-existence, and cooperation.
Dropped but promoted
The statement which was issued by the Defence spokesperson Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye confirmed that although Lt Gen Muhoozi dropped from being the Commander of Land Forces, he was promoted to a four-star general and will continue with duties as senior a military advisor to his father President Museveni.
President Museveni’s apologized to Kenyans
A few hours after President Museveni dropped and at the same time promoted Muhoozi, he apologized to Ugandans and the government of Kenya over his son’s provocative Tweets. Museveni asked Kenyans for forgiveness for the tweets sent by General Muhoozi the former Commander of Land Forces regarding the election matters in Kenya.
Why then President Museveni promoted his son after the tweets incident?
Even though Mr. Museveni apologized to Kenyans and Uganda over his son’s behavior, he, however, expressed no regret for promoting him. While explaining why Muhoozi was promoted to the highest rank in UPDF Museveni said that the tweets’ mistake is one aspect where his son Muhoozi has acted negatively as a public officer. There are, however, many other positive contributions the General has made and can still make. He argued that this is a time-tested formula to discourage the negative and encourage the positive.
President Museveni however advised his son Gen Muhoozi who he described as a great Pan Africanist to use legitimate forums such as the Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union or confidential interactions among East African Community (EAC) and African Union (AU) for-no public comments.
Why Kenyans could not ignore Gen Muhoozi’s tweets?
According to David Wafula a Kenyan political analyst by the time Muhoozi tweeted he was serving as the Commander of the Land Forces UPDF and was previously the Commander of the Special Forces Command so his tweets carried wait.
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