President Museveni apologizes for Gen Muhoozi tweets on Kenya

Kampala- President Yoweri Museveni has extended an apology to Kenyans for tweets sent out by his son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba about elections that were held in Kenya recently.

Muhoozi started a series of tweets on Monday announcing through his official handle @mkainerugaba that he was on a mission to raze colonial borders and capture Nairobi, within just two weeks. The tweets which covered feeds across social media handles also sparked an online rage between Ugandans and Kenyans.

…I love my Kenyan relatives. Constitution? Rule of law? You must be joking! For us, there is only the Revolution and you will soon learn about it! Muhoozi said in one of the tweets that were sent out shortly before the Ministry of Internal affairs disowned his sentiments.

Moments later, President Museveni announced changes in the command of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces-UPDF dropping him from the position of Commander of Land Forces in what was seen as a move to tame his son. Today Museveni said he had sent out an apology to the President of Kenya William Ruto in regret for the unbecoming approach exhibited by Muhoozi on social media.

“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,” Museveni said in a statement issued this afternoon.

He explained that the only available legitimate forum for such engagements is the Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union or confidential interactions within the East African community and the African Union.

Museveni explained that the move to promote Muhoozi to a four-star General, the highest rank in the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), even after the online chaos, was to appreciate the many other positive contributions he has made despite acting negatively in recent days.

“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,” Museveni added.

He describes Gen. Muhoozi as a passionate pan-Africanist but hastens to add that, the correct method for Pan-Africanists is confidential interactions or using the available fora of EAC and AU, especially for public officers. Museveni said that he had conveyed all his views confidentially to Kenya’s President, William Ruto.

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement reaffirming that Uganda treasures the existing strong bilateral relations between Uganda and Kenya based on the shared history between the two countries, common values, Mutual respect, trust and the desire to build a unified East African Community.

The Ministry added that the Government of Uganda does not conduct its foreign policy and other official business through Social Media nor depend on social media sources in dealing with other sovereign governments.

Source : URN