Muhoozi’s diplomatic blunders undermine his chances for succession

Some of Gen. Muhoozi’s tweets, which some feel, undermine rather than strengthen his bid to replace his father as President of Uganda

As the same is widely believed, if not a settled position already, that it is what is going to be the case.

In fact, Uganda’s is likely to witness, experience and live with the nightmare of possibly another Idi Amin on the top of government in terms of the embarrassing diplomacy between Uganda and other countries if the undesirable happens.

But let us express the same judiciously, such fears are likely to prove true should Muhoozi himself doesn’t quickly go for classes to secure the required skills.

Evidence

Merely days back, Muhoozi publicly authored a text on his unmistakable Twitter handle bragging about how his army can overthrow the freshly installed and properly elected administration in Kenya in just a matter of two weeks.

In another related tweet, Muhoozi spiked the newly elected President Ruto and the democratic institutions of Kenya when he said he had a problem in Kenya not allowing his friend and former president Uhuru Kenyatta being denied a chance to stand for a third term.

Muhoozi told Kenyans that: “My only problem with my beloved big brother is that he didn’t stand for a third term. We would have won easily.”

This wasn’t in fact the first gaffe and reckless statement from the general. Muhoozi has previously sparked alarm by nosing into sensitive affairs of other countries in the region.

For example, last year, Muhoozi risked causing fallout between Uganda and Ethiopia when he expressed support for the Tiggray rebels that are fighting the elected government of President Abby Ahmed of Ethiopia.

Muhoozi said: “I urge my great and brave brothers in the Tigrayan Defence Forces to listen to the words of Gen. Yoweri Museveni! I am as angry as you and I support your cause. Those who raped our Tigrayan sisters and killed our brothers must be punished.”

The tweet attracted an overflow of angry reactions from Ethiopians and Ugandans alike.

The Head of UNAIDS and former MP in Uganda Winnie Byanyima, pleaded with Muhoozi to delete the partisan tweet for the sake of the lives of Ugandans living in Ethiopia. He has since refused to delete it.

Were Muhoozi to be a common village drunkard, which yours truly does not want to imagine, he would be excused. But the former army commander in charge of land forces, who was also charged with protecting the life of the President, Gen. Muhoozi has let many down with his uncalculated comment.

And who, moreover, is known to have graduated from the Crème de la crème of the renowned Sand Hurst military academy in the United States, what he tweeted was to say the least, debase and embarrassing.

Regarding the invasion of Nairobi tweet, we’ve already shared that the tweet was not only embarrassing to himself, but also to innocent entities his Papa, Mzee Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa, the institution of the army, the government and the country at large.

To gauge the extent of the damage on Uganda’s reputation, it took the President to profusely repent and apologize to the people Kenya for the unintended outspokenness of his son by formally writing to say sorry on his son’s behalf.

Besides ordering the 48-year old son to call Raisi Ruto and apologize on bended knee, Museveni granted an interview to Kenya’s KTN news during which he said they have had a discussion with his son to no longer comment about diplomatic issues.

Museveni is quoted as having said: “Talking about other countries and partisan politics of Uganda is something he should not do and will not do it.”

Muhoozi’s reference to the UPDF as a personal army, has also raised eyebrows.

But even so, the First Son should have done himself and his father and his family plus his groomers a lot of justice had he chosen to keep the same to himself, rather than publicly stating the same out and, in the earshots of all and sundry.

For and, seriously elucidating, such conversation doesn’t taste deliciously nor settles well with people who have seen and witnessed personal armies raining havoc at the whim and pleasure of their owners even here in Uganda.

On a very chillingly blood-curdling note, God forbid, the same narrative can easily end up and, negatively so, by exciting the hundreds of thousands of the rank and file of the military. The ones Muhoozi seeks to treat as part of his own estate into mutinying, giving rise to disastrous consequences.

Let us address ourselves to the undesired implications of Muhoozi’s tweet supposing that the author himself doesn’t know them.

One, the supreme law in the land and other laws subordinate to it, clearly and unmistakably treats the Ugandan army not as a personal army no matter whatever personal beliefs and opinions whatsoever we might happen to hold.

Except, if one is someone who treats the Constitution with absolute disdain and utter contempt, s long as the document speaks, such other personal beliefs and opinions to the contrary, stop to hold.

Kenya is an independent and sovereign state. No arguments about this. Just as Muhoozi himself would swiftly bark back at the Whites and teach them how Uganda is a sovereign state.

Were the Whites to counsel us to stop engaging in kidnapping the innocent people, detaining them incommunicado, using people’s land without adequately compensating them and such abuses plus degrading the eco-space.

That understood and noted, it would be absolutely wrong, subsequently, for Muhoozi or anybody else, to be heard and understood as suggesting that he or she can move to Kenya and use guns, to overthrow the properly elected and installed government.

But should that occur or get stated, the same would amount absolutely to absolutely high treason. Period.

Truer, we might be holding misgivings regarding the caliber of leaders of other countries. But, all the same, we would want to know and understand that each and every country under the sun has its own citizens vested with the right and freedom to choose who they want to govern them and, thus, to forge their own destiny.

In any case, to try to make it our business which, it isn’t absolutely, by telling other leaders to ignore the supreme law of the land and stick to power because we think they are popular, is to question the intelligence of such leaders first, and to stain and make a mockery of the supreme law of their country in that order.

We might have the right to ignore the supreme law of our land as inferior in the eyes and minds of those we feel are revolutionaries, but we should have the courtesy to respect those leaders who happen to treat their’s highly and sacred.

In addition to that, conversations hinging around upstaging foreign governments must be strictly avoided by those known or even suspected to have previously done so.

Since if that doesn’t happen, such conversations would not only ideally invoke memories of those nightmarish experiences, but also make the sanr to appear genuine and thus counterproductive.

Clueless and pompous Idi Amin caused us a big diplomatic rift when he texted reducing Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Kambarage to a woman and then proposed to marry her.

Even taking into account his buffoonery nature, no sane person would have mistaken Nyerere for a woman nor waiting for Amin to propose to.

Yes, Amin excused himself from proposing to Nyerere. But why does it matter? The legendary big daddy president again went out of his way by telling Nyerere he would have married him because he was so beautiful, but sorry, he wasn’t only a fellow man, but also his head was full of grey hair.

But, oh, Nyerere got emboldened by Amin’s such contemptuous remarks. He thus determined to resolutely fight the man remembered for giving himself many ridiculous titles in Uganda’s history. Until he had bombed him out of power and deposited him to the dustbin of history.

Reverting to Muhoozi, before jumping on Kenya, he had tweeted backing Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

Yet everyone else can clearly understand the fact that Uganda depends on the West for oxygen to run it’s budget.

Subsequently, a high ranking military officer and the son of the president too, ought to have known better than to cross the bankroller of the very government run by his father.

Granted the First Son is entitled to his opinions, but he should keep them to himself if he knew and understood that diplomacy and sophistication in governance matters.

If the super powers and even the unpredictable rocket-man of North Korea has known better than to cross the West aware of it’s lethal military power, who would want in a mere third world to mess up with such mightier alliances?

Muhoozi’s father has ever publicly asked Muhoozi to go slow on Twitter. In attendance was President Paul Kagame. Kagame, in turn, offered to school Muhoozi in the proper use of the platform.

If that happened, then Muhoozi would seem to have learned nothing and forgotten everything from Kagame’s classes.

But suffice it to add that Muhoozi has written before calling the Uganda’s army that of his father, himself and Uncle Salim Saleh.

He has even written overruling his father such as when the president issued the highest alert military preparedness whilst in Rwanda and the son tweeted that such had not happened and ,so, implied it was hot air.

Museveni called home and ordered the military superiors to ignore Muhoozi’s tweet and do as he had ordered. But the damage and embarrassment had already happened, any way.

Before that, Muhoozi had tweeted suspending the military operation in the DRC known as Shuja which caused utter confusion since none of his superiors had given such an order.

Museveni still issued a contrary order for the operation to continue. As we said before, the damage had already been occasioned by Muhoozi’s tweet.

Muhoozi has tweeted referring to the national army as the Chwezi army whose implication is that it’s not for Uganda and also that Uganda is a dynasty since the Chwezi was one.

Judging from the bashing he enlisted on Twitter, he moved quickly and removed the tweet. But the damage had been occassioned even to innocent entities apart from the author.

He has tweeted stating that his army will never let Bobi Wine to exercise his right of getting power meaning he is the one who clears who should and who shouldn’t be in power.

Bobi hit back accusing Muhoozi of going on Twitter after guzzling one too many. Muhoozi shoot back accusing Bobi of disparaging the lovers of the bottle yet Uganda wasn’t Mecca.

Overall, my well considered is view is that Muhoozi is not well grounded in matters of diplomacy and governance procedure.

Fortunately, it’s not too late nor are resources lacking for him to get the right expertise since he is aspiring to govern Uganda one day the in future.

Uganda can’t have a president who lacks such sophistication in this day and end.

Who knows such leader, if he or she is trusted with power can end up occasioning us problems just as Amin did for lacking the required amptitudeness in diplomacy and governance.

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