OPINION- You can gamble with many things in life—your money, your time, even your dignity—but one thing you can’t afford to gamble with is the leadership of a country. The stakes are simply too high, and the contradictions too complex, for anyone who isn’t both ready and competent.
Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s foray into the political arena has been nothing short of a comedy of errors. My guess is that the likelihood of Muhoozi’s political resurrection is like the next Pope being a Muslim!
Frankly, I never bought into the notion that Muhoozi could lead this country; even Museveni must have realized that handing over the reins of power to him would be akin to leaving a toddler in charge of a store of candles with a match box!
I’ve penned multiple articles predicting Muhoozi’s political downfall, including one on June 1, 2020, titled “Why the Muhoozi Project Will Face a Miscarriage.” In the subsequent years, I have continued to highlight his inefficiencies across various platforms, such as the Daily Monitor. Each critique underscored his questionable presidential ambitions, and here we are, witnessing the self-implosion of his so-called political career.
His recent declaration to bow out of the 2026 race, coupled with his endorsement of Gen. Museveni, has effectively sealed his fate. While it’s true that Muhoozi made a glaring mistake by expressing political aspirations while still serving in the military, the way he executed his retreat was laughably amateurish.
From the moment he announced his presidential intentions to his abrupt withdrawal, everything was executed in the most haphazard manner imaginable. His tweets read like poorly written scripts from a comedian, and his speeches seemed more demoralizing than inspiring. The way he broke the laws by holding political rallies while serving in the army displayed not only lack of consciousness on his side and his supporters but also displayed a sense of entitlement and exaggerated ego on his side. The composition of the PLU top organ the Central Committee itself spoke to the nepotism and sectarian, with only two out of nine people speaking one language (Muhoozi, Mwenda, Mawanda, Kabanda, Nuwagira Toyota, Gashumba Barugahara)! The way the MK Movement & subsequently PLU operated was like they were reading from a script titled “How not to be a leader”!
Supporters hopped on Muhoozi’s bandwagon not because of any coherent policies or ideologies, but simply because they believed in the allure of power. Otherwise what did Muhoozi truly stand for? What compelling policy did his political outfit, the PLU, put forward?
Initially, when Gen. Muhoozi presented himself as a presidential hopeful, business moguls, politicians, and diplomats lined up to curry favor with the perceived future leader. But to be clear: this wasn’t due to his competence but rather the political climate that often rewards the well-connected. Indeed many invested heavily in the MK Movement and PLU activities, gambling their political futures. Some NRM MPs, like David Kabanda, even began to criticize Museveni as if they were part of the opposition. This was no mere whim; it was a calculated risk! .
Therefore, his abrupt decision to abandon those who believed in him, announced at an ungodly hour via a mere tweet, was nothing short of a strategic blunder. Why make such a big announcement at 2:00 AM? Why not consult with his Central Committee before making such a monumental decision? Does he know how many schemers were banking on the PLU to bankroll their political bids? Does he know how many of them were securing businesses because of their association with PLU? He left his supporters scrambling for answers, caught off guard in the dead of night as he pulled the rug out from under them. It’s as if they woke up, and their ‘get-rich-quick’ political scheme had vanished in thin air! As with all bad bets, they are now holding the receipt wondering how it all went so wrong!
If Gen Muhoozi truly believed in his leadership potential, wouldn’t he want to craft a coherent communication strategy instead of treating his followers like mere afterthoughts? Wouldn’t he have declared that a few months into the general elections? Was it even him a serving officer to make such a big pronouncement? Were the leaders of PLU supposed to wake up only to find that their political Messiah had left them high and dry in the middle of the night? A man who once promised the world, only to leave his supporters with a Twitter handle full of broken dreams and empty rhetoric?
In the end, Gen. Muhoozi’s political aspirations have become a cautionary tale—a classic example of how hard it is to navigate the treacherous waters of leadership. As he retreats, one can only hope that those who staked their futures on his whims will take this as a lesson learned: in politics, you can’t afford to gamble with an incompetent leader, I think they have learnt the hard way!
Muhimbise George is a political analyst! 0787836515, muhimbiseg@gmail.com
