President YOWERI Museveni has carried the cross of a responsible father by apologizing for his son’s wayward behavior.
The old man with a hat displayed the unwavering love of a father to his child in an apology letter he wrote to Kenyans and Ugandans who were gravely offended by his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba whom he recently assigned as his avenger. In the statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Gen. Museveni also explained why he chose to promote his son to his own rank of a full General despite his (son’s) apparent error of judgment. The explanation comes on the heels of heated debate which clearly showed that many Ugandans and Kenyans found it ‘weird’ that the president ‘rewarded’ his son for his mistakes as opposed to simply reprimanding him.
Below is the verbatim version of the president’s apology:
Dear Ugandans, the brotherly People of Kenya and all East Africans. I greet all of you. Again, I hail the peaceful elections that took place in Kenya recently where H.E. William Ruto emerged winner. I, again, congratulate him on that victory. 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. The only available legitimate forum is the Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union or confidential interactions among us or EAC and AU fora –not public comments. Why, then, promote him to full General after these comments? This is because this mistake is one aspect where he has acted negatively as a Public officer. There are, however, many other positive contributions the General has made and can still make. This is a time-tested formula –discourage the negative and encourage the positive. 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. I know for a fact that General Muhoozi is a passionate Pan-Africanist. However, the correct method for Pan-Africanists is confidential interactions or using the available fora (EAC and AU), especially if you are a Public officer. I have conveyed all those views confidentially to H.E. Ruto, the President of Kenya.
Signed:YK Museveni (Gen. Rtd.)The old man with a hat
Muhoozi confirms project
Meanwhile, president’s son Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has for the first time confirmed existence of the hitherto elusive and ‘sacred’ Muhoozi Project! Either intentionally or inadvertently, Muhoozi made the reference to the project in tweets which he let out in celebration of his elevation to full general. The first of such tweets came shortly after his apology to Kenyans and announcement of his elevation.
“Let me see how many east Africans still love me? Retweet and like for our project” Muhoozi tweeted on Tuesday. And as if to confirm that the first reference to the project was not accidental, he added in another tweet, “we are now free to talk about political issues that’s what it means we are coming and getting closer to the project.”
To many Ugandans and political enthusiasts, Muhoozi’s reference to the ‘project’ will come as a very shocking development, especially given the fact that the same has remained a coy and almost sacred topic that’s to be avoided.
It should be noted that the issue of the Muhoozi Project was first brought to the public domain by politically estranged Gen. David Sejusa.
Back then, Sejusa alleged that there was a covert operation known as the Muhoozi project, whose aim was to prop up the president’s son until he succeeded his father. According to Sejusa, the project was characterized by purging individuals who were seen to stand in the way of the project.
It should be noted that President Museveni came out to rebuke Sejusa and deny the existence of such a project, saying he doesn’t have to prepare his son for the presidency.
According to Museveni, Muhoozi’s political fate was to be decided by Ugandans. In fact, to show how baseless the Sejusa claims were, Government sieged all media houses which published the said Sejusa letter including Daily Monitor And red Pepper, closing them for some time for publishing information which potentially breached national security and divided the army.
And now with Muhoozi himself alluding to the project almost a decade later, it remains to be seen whether Sejusa or the media houses which were distressed will be vindicated.
