A fiery tweeter who is in charge of Uganda’s military, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba is decried by his critics as being in the middle of an unholy trinity, or alliance, of three men who rule the East African nation with an iron fist.
Kainerugaba, the son of the country’s long-time leader Yoweri Museveni, has posted on social platform X about the killing of opposition supporters during this month’s fiercely contested presidential election.
In posts which were subsequently deleted, he also threatened to have the testicles of defeated opposition candidate Bobi Wine removed.
With the 81-year-old president winning a seventh term, analysts say this is likely to be his last term and he is grooming his 51-year-son to succeed him.
The so-called “unholy alliance” – a play on the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity – is made up of Museveni, Kainerugaba, and the president’s powerful brother and special adviser, Salim Saleh.
Kenya-based analyst for the Institute for Security Studies think-tank, Nicodemus Minde, tells the BBC that he heard the description during a recent research trip to Uganda.
“The Father being Museveni, then the Son being Muhoozi, then the Unholy Spirit could be the uncle, Salim Saleh,” he says.
Minde describes Saleh as a “power behind the scenes”, saying he was “influential in terms of money, business and access”.
Opposition supporters accuse the family of believing they have a God-given right to rule Uganda, with Museveni extending his 40-year-rule after he was declared the winner of the election with more than 70% of the vote.
Indeed Anita Among, the speaker in the last parliament, also used the image of the holy trinity last year, as she rallied voters to back Museveni.
“We believe in God the Father – and God the Father is President Museveni. God the Son is MK [Muhoozi Kainerugaba], and now you [the voters] are the Holy Spirit. Therefore, vote for them,” she was quoted as saying in comments that came in for some criticism.
After getting just 24% of the vote, Wine dismissed the results as “fake”, claiming widespread “ballot-stuffing” was behind Museveni’s victory.
This incurred the wrath of Kainerugaba, who threatened the opposition leader, giving him “exactly 48 hours to surrender himself to the police”.
“If he doesn’t we will treat him as an outlaw/rebel and handle him accordingly,” he wrote.
Those tweets – and the one in which he threatened to remove Wine’s testicles – have since been deleted.
Wine, who had gone into hiding after a raid on his house following the election, later called out the general on X and included a screengrab of some of the deleted tweets – to which Kainerugaba responded with the comment: “Boo hoo hoo Mr. 24%.”
Another tweet saying Wine was wanted “dead or alive” is still on his feed, even though a government minister has said the opposition leader is free to carry out his activities.
The army chief later accused the US of helping Wine escape and said that all military co-operation between the two countries would be suspended.
On Friday, he apologised, saying he had been given “wrong information”.
He subsequently announced “I intend to reduce my interactions” on the social media site. Last year, he said he would leave X before returning after just a few days.
Kainerugaba has a long history of controversial posts, some of which have been later deleted, and is also known as the “tweeting general”.
He has also invoked religion to advance his political aspirations.
“I fear no one on this planet because my bloodline is from Jesus Christ,” he posted earlier this month. This tweet has also been deleted.
A long-time friend of the general, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says he is “incredibly loyal”, and compares his posting to US President Donald Trump.
“He might be Trumpian, but that’s him expressing himself,” the friend tells the BBC.
He says “it is wrong to try to understand him from the tweets that he posts”, adding that Kainerugaba is “a man of complex character”.
Minde describes the general’s posts as often “wild”, but says that many of his comments can make sense when viewed within the context of Uganda’s succession politics – in particular Kainerugaba’s bid to position himself as his father’s heir.
“He probably wants to endear himself to his father,” Minde tells the BBC, but adds that some of the posts are deliberate “provocations”.
He says that Kainerugaba’s statements do little to win him public favour.
Kainerugaba’s friend, on the other hand, tells the BBC the general would be an “incredible successor” to his father.
He points out that Uganda is a post-conflict country where security is all-important.
“This is our number-one priority, to make sure that you are peaceful and stable and [Kainerugaba] is very experienced in that sphere. He’s been doing this all his life,” he adds.
However, some of his posts could threaten international relations if taken at face-value.
In 2022 he threatened to invade neighbouring Kenya, triggering a backlash from Kenyans who trolled him for his “reckless” comments.
He responded by urging them to “relax”, but as the row escalated, Museveni was forced to phone his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto to apologise for his son’s “mistake”.
Kainerugaba has in the past downplayed some of his remarks as “musings” and “abstractions” that do not need to be taken seriously.
Uganda-based security analyst Freddie David Egesa observes that the military chief “enjoys having that kind of vibe”.
“He sometimes likes joking around it,” Egesa says.
Kainerugaba’s friend says the general is “a kind, generous, intensely smart person who spends all his time thinking about the peace and security of this country”.
He adds that the general executes his responsibilities to the best of his abilities.
“And that’s why he serves in the role that he serves.”
Critics say Kainerugaba has brooked little opposition in the country, acting decisively against anyone perceived as a threat to his father’s administration.
By the general’s own admission on X, at least 30 people were killed and 2,000 others detained by security officers following the recent elections.
Before the polls, opposition rallies were disrupted, with security forces at times opening fire. The United Nations said the election was held in an “environment marked by widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition”.
Kainerugaba played a role in the four-day internet blackout that lasted until after the elections, Reuters news agency quoted Andrew Mwenda, a Ugandan political commentator and close ally of the general, as saying.
The internet remained partially restricted afterwards, but on Monday, Kainerugaba posted that access to all social media platforms was being restored.
“We are releasing all social media today,” he wrote.
On the same day, he took to X to deny that his soldiers had beaten up Bobi Wine’s wife Barbara Kyagulanyi.
She had alleged from her hospital bed on Saturday that military officers had assaulted her overnight as they searched for her husband.
According to Minde, Kainerugaba’s actions appear driven by loyalty or a desire to protect Museveni’s administration. The general’s first name, Muhoozi, means avenger.
“I named him Muhoozi, which means vengeance, such that when someone wrongs me, he avenges,” Museveni once explained.
Kainerugaba, who was born in 1974, grew up in exile in Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden before his father took power in 1986 after overthrowing the brutal regime of Milton Obote.
He joined the military in 1999, enrolled at the UK’s elite Sandhurst military academy and graduated the following year. He is married with several children.
He rapidly rose through the military ranks shortly after joining the army, reaching the rank of lieutenant-general 10 years later. He was promoted to a full general in 2022.
He played a pivotal role in the formation of the Special Forces Command (SFC), an elite military unit responsible for his father’s security.
The SFC has been accused of involvement in a wave of abductions and torture of opposition members. It has denied the allegations, but some of its officers have been convicted of abusing their power.
The most prominent case was that of a 32-year-old SFC soldier, who was court-martialled and sentenced to death in 2024 for shooting dead three people and injuring two others, including a one-year-old child.
And after a bodyguard of Wine, Edward Sebuufu went missing last May, Kainerugaba revealed on X that he was in detention “in my basement”, and sparked a social media storm after he published a photo of him appearing half-naked and with his beard shaved off.
As with Wine, he threatened to castrate Sebuufu.
Wine has alleged that members of the SFC, as well as the military, were behind a raid on his home the day after the election.
The unit is viewed as a shadow army that has helped Museveni, along with his ever-growing family dynasty, to consolidate power.
The latest addition to the political dynasty is Kainerugaba’s son, Ruhamya, who has joined the army – seen as the first step to acquiring power in Uganda.
In the years to come, the composition of the trinity could change, with Kainerugaba as the Father, Ruhamya as the Son and another family patriarch succeeding Saleh as the Spirit.
Source: BBC
