President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has apologized to Kenyans for the rather aggressive stance taken by his son, implying that the Ugandan army was planning to attack Kenya.
A series of Twitter messages by Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba who has been the commander of Uganda’s land forces until yesterday, implied that he intended to take over Kenya’s capital Nairobi but also said if he were former president Uhuru Kenyatta he would’nt have left power.
The tweets and the debate that ensued on social media threatened to spill into a diplomatic situation between the two neighboring East African countries.
As a consequence, Yesterday Museveni dropped his son from the army commander. Today, he apologized to Kenyans and Ugandans for the misdeeds of Gen Muhoozi. He also says he promoted his son to the rank of General because of Muhoozi’s track record in the army and his commitment to PanAfricanism.
Here is Yoweri Museveni’s letter in Full
Dear Ugandans, the brotherly People of Kenya and all East Africans. I greet all of you. Again, I hail the peaceful elections that took place in Kenya recently where H.E. William Ruto emerged winner.
I, again, congratulate him on that victory. I ask our Kenyan brothers and sisters to forgive us for tweets sent by General Muhoozi, former Commander of Land Forces here, regarding the election matters in that great country. It is not correct for Public officers, be they civilian or military, to comment or interfere in any way, in the internal affairs of brother countries.
The only available legitimate forum is the Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union or confidential interactions among us or EAC and AU fora –not public comments. Why, then, promote him to full General after these comments? This is because this mistake is one aspect where he has acted negatively as a Public officer. There are, however, many other positive contributions the General has made and can still make. This is a time-tested formula –discourage the negative and encourage the positive.
Very sorry, ndugu zetu Wakenya. Also sorry to the Ugandans who could have been annoyed by one of their officials meddling in the affairs of brother Kenya. I know for a fact that General Muhoozi is a passionate Pan-Africanist.
However, the correct method for Pan-Africanists is confidential interactions or using the available fora (EAC and AU), especially if you are a Public officer. I have conveyed all those views confidentially to H.E. Ruto, the President of Kenya.
Signed: YK Museveni (Gen. Rtd.)The old man with a hat.
