Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, recently tweeted a lot of stuff about the country’s leading opposition figure, Kyagulanyi Robert aka Bobi Wine, but I’m surprised that the international media mainly concentrated on one specific tweet which was a result of earlier tweets.The international media concentrated on a tweet in which he threatened to behead Bobi.
First of all, I strongly believe that Muhoozi meant this metaphorically and not in the way the media reported it. I have never seen anybody in Uganda politics beheading another person – that is not African, and it sounds awful. In any case there is no way he can ” cut off” Kyagulanyi’s head without the dad’s approval. Museveni still needs Kyagulanyi to legitimise the 2026 elections like he did so in the 2021 elections.
I believe that Muhoozi’s message was indirectly telling Kyagulanyi to stop attacking him in public. If he doesn’t, Muhoozi will probably release information that will ”cut him” off politically. I believe that the state has direct evidence implicating Kyagulanyi in their scheme to destroy Besigye politically, and I believe they will release it if necessary. But for now, I can’t see it happening because they need him to manage the opposition.
And that’s why I think the media should have concentrated on Muhoozi’s earlier tweet that confirmed what some of us have suspected all along .
“It was actually our idea (me and other generals). We convinced Mzee [President Museveni] that we could use Kabobi [Bobi Wine] to remove Besigye from being the kingpin of the opposition,” Muhoozi stated.
He added ,’ After we supported him with a lot of money (and he succeeded), he started abusing us,” Muhoozi said.
What Ugandans should know is that double agents are very common in modern politics. A typical scenario would be an operative for the NRM who has been secretly recruited by the intelligence services to work “in place”. In other words, to continue his employment with a certain opposition party (rather than defect) and, at the same time, without the knowledge of his organization (you hope), provide classified intelligence to the opposition on an ongoing basis.
In essence, this spy now has two masters and, although his salary just went way up, the danger and stress in his life has also effectively doubled. Consequently, the shelf life of the average double agent tends to be limited. Double agents are usually discovered, sooner or later.
One well-known example is Oleg Gordievsky, a high-ranking KGB officer who spent a decade as a valuable double agent for the West. He is now enjoying retirement (at taxpayer expense) in the English countryside. Oleg Gordievsky was at one time head of the KGB in the UK. There was a fascinating article on his exploits and rescue in the UK Times 9 years ago.
Perhaps the most famous double agent was during WW2, a Spaniard named Juan Pujol Garcia, operating in Britain. He transmitted information to the Germans, who were so pleased with his information, that they awarded him the Iron Cross.But in reality, this man was working for the British. Codenamed “Garbo”, he would transmit false or misleading information, or information of little value. The Germans never found out until after the war.
Double agents often experience internal conflict, torn between loyalty to their original organization and the obligations to the group they are infiltrating. This can create significant psychological stress. If Kyagulanyi was assigned to destroy Besigye, I assume that they must be a part of him that feels about it, and that’s why he sometimes goes on rants against Muhoozi and the rest of the first family.
In the intelligence community, there is a popular acronym regarding what motivates a person to secretly work for the other side — MICE. It breaks down like this: Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego.
With Kyagulanyi’s case, I can mainly think of money as a motivation considering how he handled the Mathias Mpuuga parliamentary issue with his party. Secondly, the way Kyagulanyi and his bloggers spread propaganda against Besigye between 2018 and 2020, it’s hard to believe that they were doing it only to sell Kyagulanyi at the expense of Besigye – I believe money was involved.
Double agents have played pivotal roles in espionage throughout history, often influencing the outcomes of wars and political events, but I think Kyagulanyi should think about Muhoozi’s tweets seriously and instead concentrate on his three original objectives: 1. Attack Besigye via bloggers, 2. Weaken the Buganda kingdom, and 3. Make money out of politics. He should, for now, leave Museveni’s family alone if he wants to survive politically.
NUP needs to rebrand themselves regardless of whether Kygaulanyi is a double agent or not. Otherwise, they risk fading like the “Know Nothing Party”. Yes, this was a real political party in the USA. They were a secretive group, and when the press asked what they stood for, they always responded that they knew nothing. If you ask any NUP official if they are aware of Kyagulanyi’s double agent accusations, they respond in the same way.
In the meantime, Muhoozi has announced that he has quit X, where he has been posting controversial messages. That should be a relief to Museveni because some of the stuff he posts are hard to believe that they are from him.
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