Uganda’s president fires son from military over threat on Twitter to invade Kenya

By Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni fired his son as commander of the country’s land forces after he threatened on Twitter to seize neighboring Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

The Ugandan government also distanced itself from the spate of tweets posted Monday by Lt. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, with the Foreign Ministry issuing a statement Tuesday stressing that the government and people of Uganda treasure the country’s strong bilateral relations with Kenya based on the two nations’ “shared history, common values, mutual respect, trust and the desire to build a unified East African Community.”

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted the debate on social media in respect to the relationship between Uganda and Kenya. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to clarify that the government of the Republic of Uganda does not conduct its foreign policy and other official business through social media,” it added.

In the unprovoked tweets, Kainerugaba claimed his army could seize Nairobi in a very short time.

“It wouldn’t take us, my army and me, 2 weeks to capture Nairobi,” he said.

Kainerugaba, dubbed “the tweeting general” of Uganda, has made controversial remarks on Twitter in the past.

In one tweet, he said all Africans support Russia in its war with Ukraine, while in another post, he said he was offering 100 long-horned cattle apparently as a bride price for Italy’s incoming female Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.