The Democratic Party’s (DP) acting spokesperson, Ismail Kirya, has asked the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to discipline any serving military officers who are involved in active politics.
Kirya made these remarks while addressing members of the press at the DP weekly presser held in Rubaga on Balintuma Road on September 24, 2024, where he asked the UPDF not to be selective when taking action against active serving officers who get involved in politics.
“We have PLU as a pressure group, and General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who happens to be the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), and his followers have been telling people that he was going to contest in 2026, but last week, General Muhoozi confirmed that he is not contesting and those who follow him should support the NRM party in the next elections,” Kirya said.
Kirya further asked the UPDF to come out and clarify to the country how special the CDF is and if he is above the law. He noted that having military generals in active politics is not healthy for democracy.
“As DP, we want to warn UPDF that the precedent you are setting in the army is a bad example where we shall see the army involving in active politics. Politics is dirty and people abuse themselves, and we shall not have conversations and criticize serving army generals with guns and with battalions of soldiers,” he added.
He gave an example of General David Ssejjusa, who was charged with treason after making political comments when he was still an active serving army officer, which charges led him to run to exile before later returning into the country.
The DP spokesperson called for General Muhoozi’s resignation from his current position and also to retire from the army if he wants to join active politics.
“We are calling upon the CDF to resign if he is interested in politics and also retire from the army, and he will be welcome in the politics of Uganda,” Kirya noted.
The past serving Army commander and the President for the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), General Mugisha Muntu, has on some occasions asked General Muhoozi to retire from the army if he is to engage in politics.
Gen Muntu noted that Gen. Muhoozi’s recent political sentiments and ambitions while still serving as a military officer are disrespectful to the force that isn’t supposed to be partisan.
Gen Muntu stressed that in case Muhoozi is interested in politics, he should first retire from the army and make his political ambitions openly known like he (Muntu) and other army officers did.
Gen Muntu served as an army commander from 1989 to 1998 and later fell out with his Commander-in-Chief (CIC), President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, before joining active politics, where he became president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) before forming his own political party, ANT.
