The criticism of “First Son” Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s recent promotion to brigadier in the Ugandan army, while largely expected, is likely to overshadow its immediate real purpose, which is to protect the next presidency.

In just 12 years of his soldiering career, President Yoweri Museveni’s son, now a one-star general, has zoomed close to the top of Uganda’s army leadership — he is only three ranks away from full general, the same rank as his father and six others, four of whom are retired.

Far from grooming the first son to become his immediate successor, informed analysts believe Museveni has fast-tracked his son’s rise in order to position Muhoozi to head a new-look army that will have shed the old guard of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) — whose seniority and allegiance to Museveni would be a stumbling block for whoever takes the reins after him.

The UPDF is the country’s most critical power centre, and in the broader scheme of things, handing power to a successor who is backed by an army under the command of a trusted protégé is a natural choice for Museveni.

In May, The EastAfrican reported that Museveni backs First Lady Janet Museveni as his immediate successor, but given the high-stakes succession race, top army generals did not warm to this choice.

With Muhoozi’s elevation, it is this crop of generals that Museveni will be shunting aside while keeping the power with the right institution.

“This kind of promotion is not surprising. Museveni is telling everyone that this is where the real power belongs. That anybody who succeeds Museveni must be in his good books. That’s why you see even generals who think they are in line to succeed Museveni fighting to greet Muhoozi,” said Major John Kazoora, who retired from the UPDF a few years ago.

Maj Kazoora, now secretary for defence in the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change, recently published a book that is critical of President Museveni’s departure from the political and military ideals that NRM embraced in the early 1980s before it eventually captured power in 1986.

But other observers view Muhoozi’s quick rise to the near top as grooming him for the country’s top job. Even in the event that Janet Museveni succeeds her husband, they say, she will be kept in power by an army under her son’s command, who will in turn take the reins once Mrs Museveni calls it a day.

Politician Mike Mukula is one of those who, in spite of belonging to the ruling party, has stated that Muhoozi is being groomed to lead the country.

This view is reinforced by the view that in Uganda’s politics, one needs to be an army general or have the unequivocal support of the institution in order to be able to navigate the corridors of power.

Muhoozi commands loyal support in the army unit that he has headed for close to five years, which at first was referred to as the Presidential Guard Brigade.

Over the years, however, it has taken on a new look, been renamed Special Forces Group, and with Muhoozi’s elevation to brigadier has now become Special Forces Command One and Two.