Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has appointed his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as head of the military, the defence ministry said on Friday.
Kainerugaba, 48, a general in the military, is widely seen as his father’s successor in waiting and once stirred controversy by threatening to invade neighboring Kenya.
The ministry in a statement said that he replaces Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, who was removed and appointed as a junior minister.
In 2022, Museveni removed his son as commander of Uganda’s land forces after he made threats to invade neighboring Kenya in posts on social media platform X.
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In the posts, Kainerugaba also expressed support for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin saying: “The majority of mankind (that are non-white) support Russia’s stand in Ukraine.”
Kainerugaba has long been viewed as being prepared to take over the presidency from his father, 79, who has ruled the East African country for nearly 40 years.
Although Ugandan laws bar serving military officers from involvement in politics.
However, Kainerugaba frequently trades barbs with opposition politicians and has also formed a pressure group that has been mobilizing political support for him, drawing criticism from his critics and the opposition.
Uganda is due to hold its next presidential election in early 2026 and Museveni is widely expected to seek re-election.
Kainerugab has had a meteoric rise in the country’s military. The 49-year-old, known as Muhoozi, first came to wider attention in 1998. Then a fresh-faced graduate, he began recruiting students for the presidential guard, raising questions about whether his father was trying to build a political dynasty.
Museveni brushed off the speculation but Kainerugaba rose swiftly through Ugandan army ranks, training at Britain’s elite military academy Sandhurst, as well as in Egypt, the United States, and South Africa.
With additional reports from Reuters
