Gen. Muhoozi’s first year as CDF

Playing roulette with nation’s security

COVER STORY | IAN KATUSIIME | In the one year that Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has been Chief of Defence Forces, he has become mainly known for playing Russian roulette on his X account—-sometimes raising heightened fear among opponents, engaging in light banter with the public, or tantalising the security establishment and Uganda’s neighbours.

In the past, President Museveni had long neutered the position into a figurehead without real command and control of the UPDF but away from the tweets, Muhoozi has been a very political CDF. He frequently meets heads of state, diplomats, MPs, businesspeople, and ordinary citizens.

The UPDF is a large bureaucracy that contains the Land Forces, Air Forces, and is spread out into divisions and brigades further below the chain of command. But Museveni has also been described as a master of the sideways maneuver where he bypasses official channels and relies on informal ones to maintain a grip on the army.

Military insiders say the CDF post has traditionally been tasked with army welfare which entails issues like procuring boots, uniform, housing, and to a lesser extent ammunition. The other issue that has occupied CDFs has been the Wazalendo SACCO which has turned out to be the largest savings group in the country.

The tenure of an average CDF is about three and a half years rendering occupants of the position as placeholders. The White Paper on Defence Transformation tabled in June 2004 reorganized the UPDF and birthed a new structure in which the Army Commander was replaced by the CDF.

In 2005, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima became the first CDF and ushered in an era of stability. A former officer in the Presidential Guard Brigade, precursor to SFC, he was known for his diligence, discipline and intellect.

Gen. Nyakairima held the position for the longest period of time was said to be sitting atop a highly structured institution where all strategic decisions were run through the President/CIC.

In 2013, he was replaced by Gen. Katumba Wamala. It was under Gen. Katumba that the public got a glimpse of how a CDF could be on the periphery of the action.

When Brig. Elwelu, then UPDF second division commander, led a massacre of more than 100 people in the Rwenzururu palace in 2016, Gen. Katumba told a stunned parliament that he was not involved in any way with the military operation aimed at subduing breakaway attempts by the Rwenzururu from the country.

Gen. David Muhoozi, another officer on the rise, replaced Katumba in January 2017. His was a four and a half year stint and he was succeeded by Gen. Wilson Mbadi, a former ADC to Museveni in June 2021. Mbadi had an even shorter time–hardly making it to the three year mark.

Going by the CDF chart, Museveni is likely to keep Muhoozi in the role until about a year after the 2026 election if he is re-elected.

Muhoozi’s overt power

On March 21, 2024, President Museveni appointed Muhoozi as the head of Uganda’s military—capping a career where the First Son has held every high position in the army—and attended prestigious military courses abroad. Muhoozi officially joined UPDF in 1999 after a year at Sandhurst military academy in the UK.

Muhoozi’s appointment came at a time when he was making increasingly overt power plays: he had just unveiled the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), a political party filled with his supporters ready to engage in countrywide political mobilisation.

Gen. Muhoozi is widely touted as a potential successor to his father, President Museveni, who has ruled the country for thirty nine years, is 81 years-old, and slowing down.

The 81-year-old-leader has been known for reining in any wayward high ranking member of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) but Muhoozi has so far got away with it.

Wilson Kajwengye, Nyabushozi County MP, chairman of the parliamentary committee on Defence and Internal Affairs had some praise for Muhoozi when asked to comment on the CDF’s first year.

“He’s a soldier through and through. He seems to be very close to his soldiers. He has addressed issues of accommodation and enhanced payment,” Kajwengye told The Independent.

Kajwengye spoke to The Independent after his committee had just met the team from the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs to scrutinise the defence budget. By convention, the CDF attends such meetings but Muhoozi was no show as expected. The committee approved the budget anyway for next financial year at a staggering Shs4.9 trillion.

Gen. Muhoozi is the fifth CDF since the position was created in 2005. As CDF, Gen. Muhoozi has enjoyed certain perks not accorded to previous CDFs.

This was on display when on Dec.11, 2024, Muhoozi promoted soldiers a role that was previously a preserve of the Commander-in-Chief, his father, President Museveni.

Gen. Muhoozi promoted – in acting capacity- Brigadiers; Stephen Mugerwa, Keith Katungi, Paul Muhanguzi, Felix Buzisoori, to the position of “Acting Major General”. Many soldiers in the UPDF were caught by surprise by the unprecedented move.

There was debate in military circles and among commentators about the nature and legitimacy of the promotions. However on Mar 5, President Museveni confirmed the promotions. The officers are all commanders of infantry divisions–the beating heart of the UPDF–which is largely known as an infantry force.

Gen. Muhoozi also appears to have normalised the behaviour of UPDF soldiers engaging in politics, making political statements and warning opposition actors on their activities.

Brig. Emmanuel Rwashande, the Chief of Civil Military Cooperation in the UPDF, has made public his desire to unseat MP Theodore Ssekikubo in Lwemiyaga County with his campaign materials flooding social media.

Such a bold move was unheard of in years gone by when UPDF soldiers refrained from contesting in elections before retiring from the army.

But perhaps taking a cue from the CDF, Rwashande is now a political figure as much as he is a uniformed officer.

The army in politicking

The army and state security’s involvement politics appears to have gone a notch higher.

Muhoozi has used his X account to dabble in politics.

In the just ended Kawempe by-election of March 13, the state unleashed the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT), an anti-terror outfit that rained terror on those it is supposed to protect: civilians who were involved in the electioneering process.

Earkier, after videos made the rounds of National Unity Platform “foot soldiers” clad in red at what resembled a military parade at their headquarters, Muhoozi vowed revenge.

Days later, security agents stormed the opposition party offices and destroyed office furniture and equipment worth millions of shillings, NUP agents were arrested and the military barricaded the offices for days.

Days later Gen. Kainerugaba wrote on his X page @mkainerugaba: “I entered Kabobi’s office the other day only to find weed and condoms…Now I’m going to his home! If anyone tries to fight we will KILL!”

It was another controversial tweet from Gen. Muhoozi.

Gen. Muhoozi’s appointed to the position of CDF came nearly a year after his father, Gen. Yoweri Museveni, who as president is commander of the armed forces of Uganda, sacked Muhoozi from the position of commander of Land Forces over a tweet.

At the time, Gen. Muhoozi had tweeted that ““It wouldn’t take us, my army and me, two weeks to capture Nairobi” on October 03, 2022.

A few days later on October 04, 2022, President Museveni issued a public apology to Kenya.

“I ask our Kenyan brothers and sisters to forgive us for tweets sent by General Muhoozi, former commander of land forces here, regarding the election matters in that great country.”

But when President Museveni later said Gen. Muhoozi would stop “talking about other countries and partisan politics of Uganda” on X, Gen. Muhoozi disagreed.

On October 17, 2022 he announced that as an adult, nobody could ban him from anything.

“I hear some journalist from Kenya asked my father to ban me from Twitter? Is that some kind of joke?? I am an adult and NO ONE will ban me from anything!”

And that is how things have been since then with Gen. Muhoozi off X today and on tomorrow.

On Jan.10 Gen. Muhoozi is said to have pulled down his X handle, announcing that he had been instructed by “Lord Jesus Christ to leave and concentrate on His army, the UPDF”.

But a few days later, on Jan.16, he returned with a volley of tweets including calling MPs ‘clowns’ and ‘fools’, condemning the jailed opposition leader Kizza Besigye to die on Heroes Day, and how NUP leader Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine would be beheaded.

Killing Kabobi is an easy job! Very easy. He says he likes boxing. I invite him to a boxing match.

— Muhoozi Kainerugaba (@mkainerugaba) March 25, 2025

Then the next day, Jan. 17, the Gen. Muhoozi’s X was off again.

When on Feb. 20 state security agents ransacked the offices of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) offices in Kampala, Muhoozi was back in action.

There has been public concerns about some of Muhoozi’s social media. There is fear they could drag Uganda into an unnecessary war.

Under Ugandan law, UPDF soldiers are barred from making political statements and a number of them like Col. Kizza Besigye, Gen.David Sejusa, and Lt. Gen. Henry Tumukunde have been detained and court-martialed for violating the rule.

On the contrary, Museveni has promoted Muhoozi who he described as his “avenger” including in 2022 at the height of the Kenya tweet controversy.

X posts downplayed

Asked about Muhoozi’s provocative tweets, Kajwengye downplayed the issue. “It’s not official. Muhoozi himself has said the tweets are banter. We know how the UPDF communicates.”

The ranking legislator on defence affairs insisted that the tweets are not taken seriously even after they have prompted protest notes from countries like Kenya and endangered the lives of those Muhoozi targets. Recently, the committee summoned Muhoozi to explain his tweets but he instead called Kajwengye and his fellow MPs clowns and threatened to arrest them.

“We don’t take offence to the tweets. That’s our official position.” But that is not the position of every MP on the committee like Derrick Nyeko, MP for Makindye East; who has repeatedly called out the CDF on his tweets and mannerisms.

Nyeko, a member of NUP, is also the shadow minister for defence and veteran affairs and he wants amendments to the UPDF Act for purposes of professionalism.

“The Chief of Defence Forces and the Deputy are not vetted by any organ to ensure proficiency, competence and integrity of the person appointed to serve in the position. No wonder the discipline of the UPDF continues to be questioned,” he said in his alternative ministerial policy statement for the defence sector for FY 2025/2026.

He also revealed the need to create a fair and just framework for UPDF deployments.

“The 2004 White Paper on Defence Transformation as a policy outline for the sector has failed to tackle the challenges of transforming modernising and professionalising the UPDF as it set out to,” the statement added.

Nyeko is a vocal member of the committee and he was one of those who pressured Gen. Muhoozi to appear for questioning. But he is a lone voice because the committee on defence is dominated by members of the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, who are subservient to Muhoozi.

X posts on UPDF officers

There has been concern about Gen. Muhoozi’s tweeter attacks on fellow officers in effect undermining the esprit de corps of the army which according to military sources is what keeps internal cohesion in the forces. The actions have broken with longstanding military tradition that enables camaraderie in the UPDF.

Muhoozi lashed out at Lt. Gen. Peter Elwelu, as “completely unworthy” of serving in the UPDF in raging X posts in December. Elwelu is a former deputy CDF and a former Commander of the Land Forces.

Military sources say months ago, Muhoozi had an altercation with Maj.Gen. David Birungi, the head of Special Forces Command. SFC is Museveni’s Praetorian Guard and an elite unit of the UPDF that Muhoozi has commandeered over two stints.

Muhoozi also launched a tirade against Major Tom Magambo, Director of the Criminal Investigations Directorate. Magambo was appointed to the position in 2022 and has since been Museveni’s close security aide. In February, the President renewed his contract. But the President’s son has hurled invective at Magambo who until recently was a low ranking and little known army officer.

Magambo has been a highly visible law enforcement officer spearheading crackdowns on corrupt government officials and other criminal activities. UPDF sources say Muhoozi’s attacks on UPDF officers have fueled intrigue and tension in the military and propagated an environment of suspicion with several individuals watching over their backs.

Although Gen. Muhoozi has been a different CDF by virtue of his status as the First Son, and President Museveni has countenanced routine arrests and abductions of opposition actors by security agents under his command, history shows that since independence, a peaceful transfer of power remains elusive. Will that change with Gen. Museveni and Gen. Muhoozi?