Uganda's First Son Gen Muhoozi to retire from army
Tuesday March 08 2022
Uganda’s first son and commander of land forces Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba announces his retirement from the army. PHOTO | AFP
Uganda’s First Son and commander of land forces, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who has been at the helm of thawing the frosty relationship between Uganda and Rwanda, has announced his retirement from the army.
Major announcement
In a tweet on Tuesday, Gen Muhoozi said he was retiring from Uganda People's Defence Forces where he has held various command positions and is currently the third highest-ranking officer in the military.
“After 28 years of service in my glorious military, the greatest military in the world, I am happy to announce my retirement,” he said.
“Me and my soldiers have achieved so much! I have only love and respect for all those great men and women that achieve greatness for Uganda every day.”
This comes a day after he announced that he had achieved what diplomats had failed to do by helping to normalise Uganda-Rwanda relations, leading to the full reopening of Rwanda’s borders.
And just a few days ago, he met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, in his continued role as a diplomat at large and Special Presidential Advisor for Special Operations, in his quest to mend relations between Uganda and Rwanda.
South Africa hosts Rwanda dissident Gen Kayumba Nyamwasa and operatives of his Rwanda National Congress. The rebel outfit also allegedly has agents in Uganda.
Who is Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba?
Born in 1974 to President Yoweri Museveni and Janet Museveni, Muhoozi is the firstborn. He attended schools in Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden.
After his father became president of Uganda in 1986, he attended Kampala Parents School, King's College Budo and St Mary's College Kisubi.
Muhoozi joined UPDF in the early 1990s, attracting outrage in the media after he was reportedly engaged in military operations without enlisting as a serviceman.
His father, President Museveni, later explained that Muhoozi was only a member of the vigilante force locally known as the Local Defence Unit.
He later attended the University of Nottingham from 1996 until 1998.
Muhoozi formally joined the UPDF 1999 before being admitted at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where he graduated in 2000, after which he was commissioned Second Lieutenant, a rank he held until May 2001 when former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi controversially promoted him to Major.
He also attended Egyptian Military Academy where he took both the company and battalion commanders’ courses as well as Kalama Armoured Warfare Training School.
He later took a one-year course at the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, graduating in June 2008.
Muhoozi has seen a meteoric rise through the ranks of the army to current Lieutenant-General and is also the Commander of Land Forces, the third-highest position in the military leadership.
What next?
Having occupied public space, especially on social media, there has been a lot of speculation that he was being groomed to take over from his father as president of Uganda.