Gen. MK and a diplomatic incident he almost caused

There was a rumour that Gen. Museveni would soon re-organise (Ugandans call it reshuffle) general staff command. The tentative date for the reshuffle was either before or on or immediately after October 9, 2022.

I know a few guys who are likely to eat big in the impending re-shuffle. I called one of them and we joked about it. I told to him to be careful with his social life in the next two weeks. ‘Those things of slapping traffic police officers could cost you your long-awaited and deserving promotion. Drink home, if you must,’ I counselled.

And then we heard the rumour that Mzee had deleted some names from the list of those awaiting promotions. I posted something hinting on that in a WhatsApp group full of people connected to the people who run the levers of power in Uganda. In my purely-Asuman delivery, I wrote this on September 30, 2022: “Banange, I hear my name may have been removed from a list of NRA officers to be promoted on or before October 9. Those with the right connections please help and ask those responsible to return my name on the list. In other news: I see Mukwano Gwabanji  banging Full General.”

So, I can say I was personally not surprised when Gen. MK was promoted to a four star general. But then he lost his command. Or rather his command as the Commander of the Land Forces was withdrawn by the Commander-in-Chief of the Uganda People Defence Forces.

But does this matter? Yes, it does. Because the military is a function of politics; and in Uganda, the military is a powerful political constituency with very wide latitude in geographical reach, disposition (power) and political attitude.

The (moral?) challenge of significant proportions Gen. MK faces in Uganda’s military (and body politic) is that he has a biological father, a Commander-in-Chief (boss) and political god father in the same person and personality: Gen. YKT Museveni.

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Gen. MK’s tweets divide opinions. Even in the WhatsApp Group with connected people, there is no unanimity on how to treat or discuss him and his tweets. As a critical observer, I have only detected an attempt to accommodate him and the thinking behind them tweets. But even when one would not approve of the content of MK’s tweets, I invite all and sundry to appreciate the fact that his recent tweets have had the uncanny tendency to inadvertently divert the attention of Ugandans from serious matters of national and international importance.

There was the recent European Parliament’s (non-binding?) resolution on Uganda’s oil. And shortly after, there was journalist Remmy Bahati’s allegation that security functionaries raided her home in Fort Portal and took away her relatives.

But Gen. MK’s twits on Kenya completely switched Ugandans off the ‘my-oil-our-oil’ debate. It also swept Remmy Bahati’s story off social media. The only problem with the tweets (this time), which were clearly jokes, were on the sovereignty of a friendly neighbouring country. That is a no-go area for jokes. And the Kenyans, oh dear me, brought the house down on Uganda. The head of state had to apologise for what was slowly degenerate into a diplomatic row.

The rumour is that some people around President William Ruto had counselled that he ‘postpones’ his planned visit to Uganda. And Gen. YKT Museveni’s apology was to dissuade the Kenyan government from taking a drastic action against Uganda.

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What next for Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba? First he just needs to do two things: Hire a witch and exit military service. Then he would chart his future without the limitations military service puts on him.

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]