I am not grooming my son for presidency

President Yoweri Museveni has described as “an insult”, reports that he is grooming his son Brig. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to take on the presidency after him. He was on Tuesday appearing on BBC’s Focus on Africa News programme.

Introduction by the programme host: Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni, has been in power for 28 years and with elections coming up in 2016, many are wondering if he will stand for another five-year term. Or if he, as some have speculated, will anoint his son, Brig. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to succeed him.

Just last month, the President sacked his prime minister Amama Mbabazi, who has been accused of mobilizing support in the lead-up to the polls.

BBC Focus on Africa’s Lebo Diseko asked President Museveni if he sacked his prime minister because he posed a threat to his candidacy.

A: Who told you that I sacked Mbabazi? I just appointed a new Prime Minister.

Q: Many Ugandans would say that there was quite a bitter competition or power struggle as it were, for power in the party.

A: If somebody is engaged in a power struggle, that is a problem. But competition is different. Power struggle is like intrigue. If it is competition, then it is according to the rules; the speculation that Museveni sacked Mbabazi is wasting your time for nothing.

These are our party issues and we shall solve them. You just watch and you will see what will happen.

Q: There has been talk that has not been going away; that you are grooming your son to take over from you. What do you have to say about that?

A: That is an insult. Why should I groom my son? This is not a monarchy; this is not a feudal arrangement. It is a democratic order.

Q: You say it is not a monarchy, but there are several members of your family that are in quite high positions. Your brother-inlaw (Sam Kutesa) is the foreign affairs minister, your brother (Salim Saleh) is senior presidential advisor on defence, your wife (Janet Museveni) is a minister for the Karamoja region and your daughter is a private secretary. There are a number of your family members who are in quite high positions; surely you cannot underestimate why people have questions around that?

A: My brother, who is a General (army), went through fighting and fighting is not a privilege. It is a sacrifice. He joined our struggle when he was, I think, 16, that is why he is in that position you are talking about.

My wife, against my advice, joined politics and she was elected. That is what you call democracy — including disobeying husbands. That is all democratic.

The other one whom you call brother-in-law joined politics long ago. So unless you say that the son of a politician should not marry the daughter of a politician, that is when we can guarantee against that.

Otherwise, it has nothing to do with the family.
 

Q: Are you planning to run?

A: It is not me planning. It is what my party wants and what the country needs.

We sit down as a party and assess what the country needs and what the party can offer and then who among us can deliver? That is how we have done it all these years.

Transcribed by Cyprian Musoke and Nicholas Wassajja

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