After almost three decades of service, the First Son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has announced he will be retiring from the UPDF this year.
Muhoozi, a prolific tweeter, made the announcement on Monday via his verified Twitter account.
“I also sang it because Jesus Christ is once again my ONLY Commander-in-Chief. I will be retiring from the UPDF this year,” he tweeted.
This is the second time the First Son has announced retirement from the army, having last done so in March last year. At the time, he was the Commander of Land Forces.
”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 everyday,” he tweeted in March last year.
However, this would later be dismissed by then spokesperson of Land Forces, Chris Magezi who said the army had not received Muhoozi’s application.
“The General has not retired from the army, he is still in active service.The army promotions and the commissions board, which is the military body mandated with handling retirement requests, has not received his application.” Magezi told Reuters last year.
Muhoozi’s latest revelation comes amidst speculations that the 48-year-old plans to stand for presidency in 2026.
His followers and supporters under the MK Movement have been pushing a campaign, calling for him to contest in the next presidential election.
The First Son, has previously nodded to these requests by clearly stating it that indeed, he will stand for the country’s biggest office.
Early March, Muhoozi told his over 700,000 followers that he will be coming in 2026 for the seat his father, President Yoweri Museveni has held since 1986.
“You have wanted me to say it forever! Okay, in the name of Jesus Christ my God, in the name of all the young people of Uganda and the world and in the name of our great revolution, I will stand for the Presidency in 2026!”he tweeted early March before deleting the tweet.
It should be noted that the Ugandan law does not allow serving soldiers to participate in politics. Should Muhoozi retire like he has said, he will be within the law to participate in politics.
His father Museveni has been in power since 1986.
In January 2021, President Museveni was re-elected after beating opposition’s Robert Kyagulanyi of National Unity Platform (NUP) in an election the opposition said was unfair.
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