Muhoozi to Ruto: Forgive me
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has apologised to President William Ruto over recent tweets that kicked off a massive diplomatic storm. In the tweets, Uganda's heir apparent said he would only need two weeks with his army to capture Nairobi.
But in tweets posted on Thursday night, Muhoozi struck an apologetic tone, while calling President Ruto his older brother.
After his earlier Twitter storm, Uganda blinked first by distancing itself from Kainerugaba's tweets about capturing Nairobi, saying the country is committed to peaceful coexistence with Kenya.
In a statement, Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry said that it had noted the debate that was ongoing on social media in respect of Kenya and its neighbor Uganda and that it treasured the strong bilateral relationships between the two countries.
“The Ministry wishes to emphasize that the Government and the people of the Republic of Uganda treasure the existing strong bilateral relationships between the people and the Government of the Republic of Kenya based on our shared history, common values, mutual respect, trust and the desire to build a unified East Africa community,” the statement read in part.
Days later, Museveni himself went public with his own statement, and apologised to Kenyans over the tweets made by his son.
"“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,” he said in a statement posted on his social media.
Simultaneously, he also announced that he had promoted his son to a full general, arguing that he has made many positive contributions to the country.
“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,” he added.
The 48-year-old is the firstborn son of Yoweri Museveni and has risen quickly through the ranks to become a full general which is the highest rank in the Ugandan military.
Until the tweets, he worked as the Commander of the Land Forces, a position he was removed from following the Twitter storm.
