President Museveni has in a sporadic occurrence by a head of
state apologized to Kenya for the humiliation caused by tweets by the First
Son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba .
Gen Kainerugaba, in a series of controversial tweets Monday,
said he would only need two weeks with his army to capture Kenya’s capital,
Nairobi.
“It would take us, my army and me two weeks to
capture Nairobi. After we capture Nairobi, where should I live? Westlands?
Riverside?”
He added, “I am happy that members of our district in Kenya have
responded enthusiastically to my tweet. It’s still two weeks to Nairobi.”
He would later appear to blame retired President Uhuru Kenyatta
for not contesting for a third term in the August 2022 polls won by his former
Vice President William Ruto and suggested that he should have changed the
Kenyan constitution to remain in power.
“Haha! I love my Kenyan relatives. Constitution? Rule of law?
You must be joking! For us (Uganda), there is only the revolution and you will
soon learn about it!”
The comments have since left many people’s tongues flapping as
they threatened to create a diplomatic row between the two brotherly and
neighbouring countries.
Gen Muhoozi has since been dropped as the UPDF commander of the
Land Forces.
However, in a statement released on Wednesday 5th September
2022, President Museveni apologized for the inconvenience the tweets caused to
Kenyans.
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. It is not correct for public
officers, be they civilian or military, to comment or interfere in any way, in
the internal affairs of brother countries,” Museveni said.
According to the president, the only available legitimate forum
is the Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union or confidential interactions
among heads of state, East African Community and the African Union for a and
not public comments like Muhoozi did.
He insisted that although Muhoozi is a “passionate Pan-
Africanist”, social media was not the correct forum for discussing such matter,
especially for a public officer.
“Very sorry, ndugu zetu Wakenya. Also sorry to the
Ugandans who could have been annoyed by one of their officials meddling in the
affairs of brother Kenya.”
Museveni said he has since conveyed all these views
confidentially to President Ruto.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday 4th washed its hands clean of Gen Muhoozi’s
controversial tweets saying the Ugandan government doesn’t conduct its business
through social media.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to clarify that the
government of the Republic of Uganda doesn’t conduct its foreign policy and
other official business through social media nor does it depend on social media
sources in dealing with other sovereign governments,” the statement said in
part.
It will not be the first time Muhoozi’s social media outbursts
have landed him in trouble with the president.
In July this year, President Museveni told the army council
sitting in Entebbe that such uncontrolled communication can create enemies for
Uganda.
“Especially where it involves other countries, it can have the
effect of damaging our export opportunities and also causing unprincipled
divisions among us,” Museveni said in July.
However, Muhoozi later dismissed the reports as being
untrue.
