•Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the commander of the Uganda People's Defence Force was promoted to full general after claiming that he would capture Nairobi in two weeks.
•This caused an uproar that made Museveni apologise.
Image: MUHOOZI/TWITTER
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has explained why he promoted his son amid uproar in Kenya.
Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the former commander of the Uganda People's Defence Force was promoted to full general after claiming that he would capture Nairobi in two weeks.
This caused an uproar that made Museveni apologise.
"I am very sorry for what my son Muhoozi did. I ask our Kenyan brothers and sisters to forgive us for tweets sent by General Muhoozi, former Commander of the Land Forces," he said on Wednesday.
Museveni further said it was not correct for his son to utter such remarks.
"It is not correct for Public officers, be they civilian or military, to comment or interfere in any way, in the internal affairs of brother countries,” he said.
“The only available legitimate forum is the Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union or confidential interactions among us or EAC and AU for not public comments.”
Museveni further explained why he promoted his son to a full general.
“Why then promote him to a full General after these comments? This is because this mistake is one aspect where he has acted negatively as a Public officer. There are, however, many other positive contributions the General has made and can still make," he said.
"This is a time-tested formula to discourage the negative and encourage the positive. Very sorry, ndugu zetu Wakenya.”
Museveni professed that his son is a passionate Pan-Africanist.
He reiterated that the tweets made were not the correct way for Muhoozi to handle his grievances.
"However, the correct method for Pan-Africanists is confidential interactions or using the available fora (EAC and AU), especially if you are a Public officer," he said.
Muhoozi on Monday said he regretted that former President Uhuru Kenyatta had not vied for a third term, saying he would have easily won.
In the subsequent tweets, he mocked replies from tweeps that it would have been against the Constitution.
"Haha! I love my Kenyan relatives. Constitution? Rule of law? You must be joking! For us, there is only the Revolution and you will soon learn about it," he said.
He went ahead and threatened to invade Kenya and take control of Nairobi.
"It wouldn't take us, my army and me, 2 weeks to capture Nairobi."
Kenyans on Twitter reacted to the veiled threat to which Muhoozi replied with another set of rhetorical tweets.
"I'm happy that members of our district in Kenya, have responded enthusiastically to my tweet. It's still 2 weeks to Nairobi! After our army captures Nairobi, where should I live? Westlands? Riverside?" he said.