Campaign flyers rooting for first son Maj Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to run for President come 2021 have emerged on social media. A group of young NRM activists in the diaspora who believe it is time for the youthful General to take power from his father President Yoweri Museveni are said to be behind the move.
The flyers released Wednesday in a Facebook group named ‘MK Generation’ have Muhoozi’s image printed thereon, two national flags (Uganda and USA) with a campaign slogan ‘Our Generation President’.
For many years, some opposition politicians and sections of the public have speculated over Muhoozi’s fast rise through army ranks saying it could be a political strategy by President Yoweri Museveni to groom the first son for succession.
The President has several times explained that leadership of a country is not bequeathed saying that Uganda’s constitution lays the process by which a Uganda’s leaders are elected.
Muhoozi is the Senior Presidential Adviser for Special Operations. Before this appointment, he was commander of the Special Forces Command (SFC). Last year, he was promoted from Brigadier to Major General.
The soft spoken soldier has, however, revealed to the media on several occasions that he does not harbour political ambitions.
“I know and most people know the path to politics. It is different from the one I am on now,” Maj Gen Kainerugaba told NTV in an interview earlier this year referring to his current position.
Earlier, he had said he was very happy to be in the military and that’s where he intended to stay for some time.
Despite this, those who believe in him have always kept the candle burning on their social media forum called MK-Generation which is administered by renowned NRM activists.
The ‘Muhoozi for President’ online campaign comes in the middle of a heated political debate that has left Uganda’s Parliament bitterly divided ever since a Bill was introduced seeking to amend the constitution and remove the Presidential age limit. If passed into law, many believe, it would pave way for President Museveni’s running for office in 2021. The President has not pronounced himself on the age limit bill presented to Parliament.
But the opposition has stuck to its guns and vowed that they will exhaust every option available to them to frustrate efforts by the ruling party to amend the constitution and remove what they refer to as the “remaining safety measure.”
Some would view pushing a parallel Presidential bid for Muhoozi as a probable alternative, should the opposition which has the minority in Parliament ‘miraculously’ succeed in protecting the constitutional age cap.