ABBEY KIBIRIGE SEMUWEMBA: The Muhoozi project should be dropped

The expected Muhoozi presidency is an intriguing issue, isn’t it? It has been looking like a foregone conclusion since 2019 that Muhoozi was going to be our next president, partly because of a weak opposition, but the reality now doesn’t correspond with those plans.

I don’t know any part of the Uganda population where the Muhoozi project is genuinely supported, and I’m sure the intelligence reports, if not biased, would confirm this narrative. Such agents exist in opposition, army, businesses community, NGOs, etc, and are the bane of the agencies that recruited them.

I also believe that smart NRM and UPDF leaders and advisers must have told Museveni long time ago that his son is not him, and that he should look for someone else to take over from him if he wants to keep the presidency in the family, but I suspect Museveni went with the illusion that Muhoozi could actually take over. I’m sure whoever advised him otherwise, he was either demoted or plagued out of any big responsibility.

When a leader surrounds himself with ‘yes-men and women’, he will only hear the answers and information they think he wants to hear, however outrageous and erroneous. When telling the truth gets you fired or dead, it becomes much easier to lie. It’s a dilemma that virtually all dictators eventually face.

Honestly, I’m still trying to get my head around how Muhoozi would be so misinformed about geopolitics by jokingly threatening to attack Kenya, an independent country. At first, I thought the tweets were fake till when I saw Kiiza Besigye reacting to them on his Facebook page.

Then, I thought this must be due to very bad ‘’friends’’ around Muhoozi — good friends are supposed to have his back when he’s drunk (as some people allegedly said) or having some kind of a mental breakdown. I recall reading that he recruited a lot of “friends” in 1990s for LDU positions, and later in the Presidential Protection Unit. His ” friends ” seem to be totally inept and just wanting to be reporting good news to him and his father in this subservient system.

Anyway, Uganda has forever been a country where you forge reports to keep your superiors happy, pretend greatness in front of cameras and then mostly misuse public funds every day. It’s happening even in opposition where some little ” Hitler” in NUP has been created and he’s above criticism.

Because of those Kenyan tweets alone, agitation and propaganda for Muhoozi has become so expensive and difficult for anyone. Some Kenyans don’t even trust Museveni’s apology –they still wrongly think that Museveni is up to something through his son.

For all the years I have followed Museveni, I have never seen him apologise to anyone. So, the Kenyans must be a lucky lot to have got that apology from him. I’ve definitely noticed that for a man who considers confidence and projection of power to be critical to his reign, he’s looked awfully shaky during this Muhoozi-Kenyan saga. I really felt for him as a dad, because you could clearly see the disappointment on his face.

Muhoozi really did some damage on the East African Federation aspirations by his father. Promoting him to a General was all posturing and all pride – it was a clever way to get him out of a situation not looking humiliated. All I saw was a father who really loves his son, but it will be a big mistake to make him our next president, I think.

‘’In the Garden of Beasts’’ is a good book about the first ambassador to Germany right when Hitler came to power. It shows how folks can miss evil right before their eyes. I have followed both Gen. Muhoozi and Bobi Wine, and my conclusion now is that Uganda doesn’t need them both in our politics. Unfortunately, when you are powerless, everyone ignores you – the same way Churchill was ignored about Hitler in the 1930s — Churchill sensed early and quickly Hitler’s perverted ambitions.

For the record, I have nothing personal against Muhoozi or Bobi — all this is in the interests of our country. Outside politics, the duo could probably be my friends. Someone told me that Muhoozi is actually a humble guy though I don’t know him. With Bobi, I wouldn’t even trust him with a spoon.