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Museveni decorates son Muhoozi as the 'hand' that crushed election dissent
The Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba speaks during the 44th Tarehe Sita Day Celebrations at Kasasa playground in Kyotera District on February 6, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Museveni lauded the UPDF, led by his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, for "neutralizing" opposition elements.
- Critics highlighted the irony of celebrating a "liberation" anniversary while the regime faces accusations of deviating from its original 10-point program through systemic human rights abuses.
President Museveni has hailed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and other security forces for what he described as the robust security they provided during the recent disputed election in which he was declared the winner with 71.65 per cent of the valid votes cast.
Mr Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, was on Friday speaking at the 45th Tarehe Sita anniversary that was held at the former National Teachers’ College playground in Kabale town under the Theme: Defending the Gains of the Revolution and Honouring the sacrifices of the Freedom Fighters: A Call for National Unity, Peace and Socio-economic Transformation’.
A woman marks a presidential ballot paper at a polling centre in the Magere neighborhood of Kasangati town during Uganda's general elections on January 15, 2026.
“There were indeed groups that were planning bad things but they can’t disturb Uganda because our security system is very robust. They are wasting their time and I salute the UPDF for quickly neutralising those troublemakers,” President Museveni said on the heels of widespread allegations of intimidation, ballot stuffing and abduction of opposition supporters against the army led by his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
President Museveni decorates his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba who acts as the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) with a medal for leading anti–Al-Shabaab operations and commanding missions in DR Congo, South Sudan, and Somalia during the 45th Tarehe Sita anniversary that was held at the former National Teacher’s College playground in Kabale Town on February 6, 2026
President Museveni, 81, further listed a team of freedom fighters who included James Karambuzi, Joseph Bitwari and William Kangire, hailing from Kigezi and were executed by the Idi Amin government and added that anyone celebrating Tarehe Sita should not forget that there were earlier struggles that led to the liberation of Uganda.
“I congratulate Ugandans on these heroic struggles that resulted into Uganda now becoming what it is now. I want to thank and congratulate the people of Uganda for the recent elections which we had and I particularly thank the people of Kigezi for voting massively for the NRM party,” President Museveni said.
He added that “I want to thank God that I am in Kabale to celebrate because today we are celebrating Tarehe Sita at the same time the victory we got in the last elections. I started coming to Kabale in 1964 when we came to play cricket with Butobere. Then during the resistance struggle to fight Amin I came back to Kabale to see our contacts although they were later killed. In 1979/80 we were coming here with Maama to see Muhoozi when he was studying at Kabale Preparatory School. Then afterwards we came to fight. I want to thank God that Kabale has played a role in my life for a long time,” President Museveni said.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni delivers the 2025 State of the Nation Address at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, in Kampala, Uganda June 5, 2025.
According to Mr Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for 40 years, the Kigezi Sub-region will get richer if the people listen to his advice. He explained that Kigezi will have a stronger economy around tourism, given that it is endowed with the mountain Gorillas of Mgahinga and Bwindi national parks.
He pledged to boost tourism and international trade by expanding Kisoro airstrip and constructing more international airports in Kabale and Mbarara districts besides tarmacking the tourism roads in the area.
“We are building the tourism roads, tarmacking them to link these areas very easily for travel, but we are also going to build and expand the Kisoro airstrip. We are also going to build a very big airport somewhere here in Kabale where businessman Amos Nzeyi gave us land so that the tourists fly in instead of travelling by road from Entebbe. We are also going to build a huge airport in Mbarara that will be bigger than that of Entebbe because it will be mainly for the trade with South America and China,” President Museveni said.
He added that commercial agriculture is another activity that can spur development in the Kigezi region despite the fragmented pieces of land. He explained that the use of fertilisers and irrigation will boost commercial farming in the area.
He also said that the tea-growing enterprise was doing well, although its prices went down recently because of some mistakes, i.e. not using fertilisers and careless harvesting, among others.
Thousands of opposition leaders and supporters were arrested, and some were shot dead during the disputed elections in which President Museveni was declared the winner.
Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine.
The main opposition candidate, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, finished second with 24.72 per cent of the valid votes cast. Mr Kyagulanyi and other contenders who participated in the January 15 polls have rejected the results of the polls held under an internet shutdown.
This photo, posted by the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, shows an armed military officer standing over Bobi Wine's wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi, during a January 23 night military raid at his home in Magere, Wakiso District.
They accused the regime of ballot stuffing with the aid of the military, intimidation compounded with countrywide failure of the Biometric Voter Verification Kits (BVVK).
Tarehe Sita is an annual event celebrated every year on February 6 in commemoration of February 6, 1981, when the National Resistance Army (NRA), led by Yoweri Museveni, launched an attack on the Kabamba Military Barracks. This event marked the beginning of the five-year "Bush War" (liberation struggle) that eventually brought the current National Resistance Movement (NRM) government to power in 1986.
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
Although Mr Museveni promised a fundamental change when he first swore in as president, his critics say his regime has deviated from the initial promises he made in the 10-point programme, with many drawing paralles between the UPDF and armies under the former regimes of Idi Amin and President Milton Obote.
Brutality, intimidation, torture, enforced disappearances, among other human rights abuses, especially against Ugandans who disagree with policies of the ruling government, have been listed by opposition activists and politicians as some of the defining characteristics of the armed forces, which Mr Museveni had promised to professionalise.
Written by Robert Muhereza
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