Uganda: Muhoozi Tweet About UPDF Being a Hima-Tutsi Outfit Can Liberate Uganda From Dynasty

7 June 2022
The Observer (Kampala)
By Moses Baguma

Apparently, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the first son who has consistently, openly but informally, expressed interest in becoming a successor to his father, made a tweet to the effect that Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) is a Hima-Tutsi outfit and deleted it.

Muhoozi has, on several occasions, been accused of sending out imprudent tweets by many but the tweet about UPDF being a Hima-Tusti outfit is probably the most careless or imprudent one.

The idea of shifting from a republic to a dynasty in Uganda - which the current regime seems to be so passionate about - has more opponents than proponents. The sense, therefore, is that if the idea is to reach fruition, reasonable force against the many opponents must be used. There's no sufficient force that can be applied against opponents of the dynasty idea by the regime if the army is excluded from the equation.

So, if the first son is to successfully extend the idea of a dynasty in Uganda, he must have significant or full backing of the army. It's the reason why statements such as "Hima-Tusti army" are imprudent. It shouldn't be Muhoozi to create divisions within the UPDF.

Actually, Kainerugaba should go to very great heights to ensure that the army is unidirectional in its advances. But even before we look at the post-Museveni era, Museveni's current strength is the army and money. He can neither afford losing significant control over the gun nor over the money.

We have learnt from chronicled history that when Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) developed divisions following the death of Oyite Ojok, it became more possible or easy for Tito Okello to oust Milton Obote and subsequently, the same cracks in the national army created grounds for the ultimate success of Museveni's protracted militaristic efforts against the status quo then.

There's a video on social media which goes viral intermittently. In the video, Museveni was addressing NRM cadres at the NRM school of political education in March 1986. In the same video, Museveni starts by saying: "In a movement, in a country, you must first of all have a correct ideology, a correct system of ideas, a correct way of understanding problems."

In an effort to give his argument more credence, Museveni went ahead to give an example on the army of Obote, Amin and Tito Okello. He noted that in the armies of the three former presidents, a soldier couldn't be trusted if he wasn't a president's tribesman. That loyalty in the same armies was supposed to be based on brotherhood and the army was a centre of brotherhood, undugu.

Museveni finally observed that because of the philosophy of Obote, Amin and Tito Okello, their army (Museveni believes it was essentially the same army all through the three presidencies) was led to disaster because the NRA had won an armed struggle against it. Museveni praised the NRA for being prudent because to them in NRA, "a good soldier was always a good soldier, regardless of their tribe."

Has Muhoozi deviated from his father's philosophy or, is it that Museveni was just being cunning in the video and that his son knows the real truth? Whatever the case, Museveni has always been a careful man when it comes to engaging the public.

Although it appeared that the bush war was a thing of south-western Uganda, Museveni never proclaimed it to be so. He portrayed that his struggle was premised on national interests; he allied with traditional societies from different parts of Uganda, the business community and other rebel outfits, which were already seeking to change the status quo.

If Museveni had carelessly revealed his cynical intentions, it's improbable that he would have emerged from Luweero bushes alive. No Muganda mother would have sacrificed their child for the struggle and no Ugandan would have offered food, intelligence and social protection to the Musevenis during the war.

I am curious to know how a strategic and prudent man like Museveni received the tweet from the son.

mbaguma25@gmail.com

The author is a political commentator

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