My daughters can’t join politics — Museveni

KIRUHURA - President Yoweri Museveni says his daughters cannot join elective politics, which, according to him, has become a do-or-die affair due to poverty.

Museveni said vying for an elective position should be motivated by the desire to serve the electorate but not to get a job.

He made the remarks on December 3, 2025, while interacting with journalists from the Ankole region at his country home in Rwakitura, Kiruhura district.

The evening interaction in Runyankole was broadcast live on several TV and radio stations in the country.

According to Museveni, one should join elective politics when they have amassed a fortune but not when they are still living in poverty, as is the case with some Ugandans.

He was answering a question about the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party members who are independent candidates after losing the primaries on July 17, 2025.

Without a specified point in the past, the President said, when he went to Kisozi in Gomba district to graze his cows, the residents said they wanted his daughter, Natasha Karugire, to stand as MP.

“My daughter to go and stand, for what? She cannot go join politics and start fighting over those jobs,” he said, talking derisively about the election jobs.

Museveni said he doesn’t even see how the electorate can persuade Natasha, who is married to city lawyer Edwin Karugire, to run for election to Parliament.

“When Natasha goes there (in Kisozi), she goes to see her cows, but not to go and fight for those jobs. Maybe they persuade her [to join politics], but I don’t know how they can persuade her because she can’t go into those things,” he added.

He said Diana Kyaremera, another of his daughters, is at their ancestral land in Ntungamo district, but locals there also wanted her to stand for the Woman MP seat.

“She can’t go into those things. My children can’t go into those,” he stressed.

Structural problem of peasant families

Museveni, who is also the NRM chairperson, said standing as an independent candidate after losing the primaries is a structural problem of peasant families that are still living in poverty.

He said he would not force the NRM-leaning parliamentary candidates to quit the race but he would continue preaching wealth creation, which he started in the 1960s, as a panacea for all their problems.

‘Muhoozi loves the army’

Museveni recently said while campaigning in Ankole that all his children are in private business except Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

He was clarifying that jobs come from wealth creation and not only from the government.

“All my children are in their own things except Muhoozi, who is in government because of his love for the army. He is the one working for your government, he said.

He said this on November 28, 2025, while addressing a campaign rally at Kazo Model Playground in Kazo district.

Museveni, who was accompanied by Patience Rwabwogo, another First Daughter, said that when she completed her studies in Minnesota, US, she started keeping cattle.

“She is a cattle keeper, a farmer—she knows everything,” he told the mammoth crowd.

He said his grandchildren have also started following in their parents’ footsteps.