Muhoozi deletes tweets declaring he will run for presidency in 2026

The son of Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has deleted a tweet announcing that he will be standing for the presidency in 2026.

Muhoozi Kainerugaba, an army general, is notorious for his controversial tweets, which have led to diplomatic spats – and reprimands from his father who sacked him as commander of land forces last year for boasting about how easy it would be to invade Kenya.

The tweeting general has also not hidden his ambition to take over the top job from his 78-year-old father, who has led Uganda since 1986.

Gen Kainerugaba’s tweet, posted on Wednesday, told his more than 700,000 followers:

“You have wanted me to say it forever! Okay, in the name of Jesus Christ my God, in the name of all the young people of Uganda and the world and in the name of our great revolution, I will stand for the Presidency in 2026!”

The BBC’s Patricia Oyella in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, says the 48-year-old army officer, who has trained at prestigious military academies around the world, tweeted earlier in the month along the same lines – and it too was deleted.

That one, posted on 3 March, said: “My great father told the whole world in 1980 that he would go to the bush if the elections were rigged. We believe in the same things… we always have. I’m now informing my countrymen and women. I will stand for the Presidency of Uganda in 2026.”

His tweets about invading Kenya were never deleted from his Twitter account.

It is not clear if Mr Museveni intends to stand again. He won elections in 2021 with 59% of the vote, giving him a sixth term in office.

Analysts say Gen Kainerugaba may want to take on his father’s rival – musician-turned-opposition leader Bobi Wine – by wooing the youth vote.