Former Kawempe South lawmaker Hon. Mubarak Munyagwa has expressed his fears following the appointment of first son Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba as the boss of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces.
Speaking while appearing on the televised show this week, Munyagwa categorically said that Muhoozi is currently the Commander in Chief of the armed forces not CDF as said by the laymen.
Munyagwa said the recent amendments in the UPDF establishment and protocol of transferring CIC powers to CDF was aimed to hoodwink Ugandans as he was preparing his son for the bigger appointment that came in 8 days after the changes.
“President Museveni and his family have worked so hard in taking Ugandans for granted. They are going step by step towards transition to Gen, Muhoozi but its unfortunate our people don’t see this. Whatever he is doing is contrary to the law because the CIC powers are given to the president by the people of Uganda that voted him, its delegated responsibility from the people. Therefore transferring it to another person is illegal.” Munyagwa said.
Munyagwa insists that president has made it business as usual to elevate every Commander of the UPDF to cabinet, meaning around 2025 he can now appoint Gen. Muhoozi to a position like Vice President then abdicates power into his favour.
Last month, President of Uganda who also the Commander in chief of all Armed Forces launched the new Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) establishment which provides for the powers of command and administration of UPDF.
The document, according to informed defence officials, involves deployment, salary, training and capacity building of the force.
The development has since then caused excitement among the public, with some speculating that Museveni is delegating his powers to the Chief of Defence Forces.
“By virtue of the powers enshrined under Article 98(1) of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, and Section 8(1) and (2)(a) of the UPDF Act, 2005, yesterday, on the 17th of February 2024, at the Defence Council meeting, I presented the UPDF Establishment 2021, an instrument of delegated Command, Control, and Administration, to General Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, the Chief of Defence Forces of the UPDF, to command all elements of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces,” said Museveni in a statement issued that Sunday evening.
However, defence officials told media that Museveni issued new guidelines and regulations to the forces and have to be implemented by the CDF.
During the Defence Council meeting, Mbadi lauded the “exhaustive seven-year process culminating in the formulation of the UPDF Establishment 2021.”
The CDF said the document emphasises the jointness at the strategic level and operational leanness, aligning with principles of decentralisation.
However a few days later, the son was appointed into this office and he is currently the one with all the said powers.
The UPDF Establishment 2021 document enables changes of merging of some UPDF departments, the creation of new ones, and discarding others to improve command, control and administration of the Forces,” Gen. Mbadi said.
