“You Have No Right To Speak About Me,” Mpuuga Tells Off CDF General Muhoozi
Nyendo-Mukungwe MP Mathias Mpuuga, a prominent opposition leader, has broken his silence on General Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s December 17, 2024 X post praising him as “Presidential material.”
During a Tuesday morning X Post, Muhoozi who captioned Mpuuga, the national coordinator of the newly launched Democratic Alliance, which is trending, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) said, “This gentleman is Presidential materiel. He is an impressive politician.”
However, Mpuuga, who has been a target of sustained verbal attacks from both the ruling NRM and opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Bobi Wine for the last four years, responded to Muhoozi’s veiled praise during an interview on CBSFM on December 17, 2024.
Mpuuga’s response was unequivocal, “First of all, wherever General Muhoozi is, he has no authority whatsoever to speak anything about me. Even if he has some thoughts about me, he has no rights to speak about me unless he wants to tell us that he is no longer a serving army general who is legally not allowed to talk about partisan politics.”
Mpuuga also took a swipe at Muhoozi’s behavior, describing him as “the sign of impunity within the army which we think is a bad seed that should not be allowed to germinate, and or if it has already germinated, it should be allowed to multiply.”
He added, “Therefore, those things he speaks do not concern me. I can only tell him that if he thinks that in Uganda there are people capable of leading this country; he should get back to his job as a soldier.”
Mpuuga questioned Muhoozi’s motives, asking, “If he really wants to speak about politics, why doesn’t he speak about the blatant abuse of human rights, vanishing democracy, and mistreatment of opposition members?”
He also criticized Muhoozi’s warning that one of the opposition politicians would be demolished, saying, “Can those things be said by a professional serving soldier?”
He asserted, “If General Muhoozi is high on substances either in food or in drinks he should stop it. Alternatively, he should remove the military combat, and join politics, but what he is displaying is not a good military image.”
A political observer weighed in on Muhoozi’s tweet, saying, “Muhoozi did it [post] in bad faith for he mentioned the name Mpuuga and how he can be presidential material without mentioning those qualities. This is a strategic move to counter Mpuuga’s spirited efforts to reawaken a dormant opposition.”