Uganda’s first son and commander of the country’s land forces first signalled his desire to go public about his presidential ambitions when he auspiciously turned his 48th birthday celebrations towards the end of April into a national event.
With several festivities organised countrywide and the main event at State House graced by President Museveni and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, the MKAt48 birthday celebrations created quite a buzz in the media and were seen by many as an effort to make Gen Muhoozi popular as he prepares the ground for a shot at the next presidential elections.
The Muhoozi Project—which was coined by Gen David Sejusa in 2013 saying that President Museveni was grooming his son to succeed him when he retires—had been repeatedly denied by both President Museveni and Gen Muhoozi for almost a decade.
But after the much-hyped birthday celebrations, which included a marathon and a football match, Gen Muhoozi seems to have mustered enough courage to publicly express his interest in the presidency, which he did in his typical informal style on May 1 via Twitter, his preferred social media channel. Gen. Muhoozi is a prolific Twitter user with more than half a million followers.
“When Team MK wins power in this country, which we will, our first action will be to increase the sports budget,” Gen Muhoozi said on Twitter. “Team MK will announce our political programme soon.”
