Gen Muhoozi KainerugabaUganda’s tweeting army general and only son of the country’s President, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has reactivated his X account barely a week after he quit the social media platform, citing spiritual awakening.
“I'm back!,” Muhoozi announced his return on Thursday in a tweet, just five days after he deactivated the account of a million followers “under the instructions and blessings of my Lord Jesus Christ to leave.”
He followed it up almost in quick succession with a series of tweets in his characteristic nonchalant style.
In one, he said, “I will shake up this world,” followed by another in which he ordered Uganda’s security agencies to arrest on the spot any opposition figure found wearing anything that resembles the country’s military fatigue.
“And those who do not respect this order...have their own problems,” Muhoozi warned.
This is the second time Muhoozi has quit and returned to the micro-blogging platform in three years.
He first left in 2022 but returned days later and continued his social media theatrics, ruffling feathers in both the political and diplomatic arena.
On March 8, he sent Uganda’s politics into a spin after he sent a 49-word tweet announcing his retirement from the Ugandan People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), a position he was promoted to by his father President Yoweri Museveni in June, 2021.
“After 28 years of service in my glorious military, the greatest military in the world, I am happy to announce my retirement. Me and my soldiers have achieved so much! I have only love and respect for all those great men and women that achieve greatness for Uganda every day,” Muhoozi said.
He made headlines again in October 2022 after he sent a series on tweets in which he threatened to invade Kenya, sparking uproar on the platform then known as Twitter, where many termed his remarks reckless.
The threat to violate Kenya’s sovereignty almost caused a diplomatic tiff, prompting Museveni to issue an apology, a day after he sacked him as commander of the army's land forces.
Muhoozi’s had said "It wouldn't take us, my army and me, 2 weeks to capture Nairobi," a stance he later changed and asked Kenyans to "relax," saying if anything, he really didn’t think he had the capacity to pull off the invasion.
"I would never beat up the Kenyan army because my father told me never to attempt it! So our people in Kenya should relax!" Muhoozi tweeted.
His father, who would later promote him to the rank of general and retain him as his adviser, issued an apology through Uganda's foreign ministry saying the country treasured its "strong bilateral relations" with it "brotherly neighbour".
"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.
Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, has long been thought to be grooming Muhoozi as his preferred sucessor.
In his farewell tweet on January 10, Muhoozi said he was leaving to concentrate on the army but “I know you all love me, and that you will continue to follow me like the wind long after here”.
“At an appropriate time in the future when it becomes important, and after fulfilling the Almighty God’s immediate assignment to restore everlasting peace and security to all His people in our region, we shall always re-converge,” Muhoozi said.
"I love you all so much, and in whatever you do, continue to support Uganda, Africa, and our revolutionary President, the greatest General of the Resistance, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni."
