{UAH} Will Museveni Nominate Muhoozi To Replace Sejusa?

Will Museveni Nominate Muhoozi To Replace Sejusa?

Giles Muhame

The UPDF leadership is ready to start the search for a new Member of Parliament to replace exiled fugitive General, David Sejusa alias Tinyefuza, Chimp Corps report.

Army publicist, Col Paddy Ankunda said in an exclusive interview on Friday that "we advised Sejusa to return but he turned a deaf ear to our pleas. So he is on the edge.

Sources told this website that the intelligence chiefs started vetting potential successors of Gen Sejusa after Speaker Rebecca Kadaga made it clear that the General's failure to attend Parliament sessions disqualified him from being a member of the House.  

Kadaga, in her communication to Parliament on September 26, referred Gen Sejusa's absence to the Committee of Rules, Privileges and Discipline "to investigate this Member's conduct and report to this House before the 10th day of October 2013."

Kadaga had on September 16 communicated to Parliament about the continued absence from the sittings of the House by Sejusa.

The Speaker informed the House that she had written to Sejusa requiring him to attend the next sitting of the House.

"To date he has neither complied nor has he made any communication to me in regard to the same," said Kadaga on Thursday.

Sejusa left the country in April to exile in UK after authoring a controversial letter seeking an investigation into reports of planned assassination plots against those believed to be opposed to the rise of Brigadier Muhoozi Keinerugaba to presidency.

The army denies the existence of the so-called "Muhoozi project" and has since finalized an investigation into Sejusa's conduct.  

Basing in London, Sejusa recently announced plans to remove Museveni from power "by all means," a statement the army believes tantamount to a declaration of war.

Ankunda said "as far as UPDF is concerned, Gen Sejusa is absent without leave which is as good as desertion."

Sejusa maintains that Kadaga is dancing to the whims of the executive and that she would not fight a "wrong enemy."

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According to Ankunda, army representatives in Parliament are elected in a "democratic" manner.

"The President makes the nominations after which these names are submitted to the Defence Forces Council to decide on who should become the army MP," said Ankunda.

The Defence Council comprises members of the High Command; chiefs and directors of departments; senior army officers as at the 26th day of January, 1986; commanders of different forces; and division, brigade and battalion commanding officers of the army.

The chairperson at any meeting of the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces Council is the President, and in the absence of the President such person as the President may appoint takes over as the chairperson.

According to subsection (4) of the UPDF Act, the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces Council advises the President on all matters connected with the control and administration of the army.

And in accordance with the general direction of the President, the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces Council is responsible for professional advice on military defence policy in general including presidential nominations.

Ankunda further noted that the election is organized by the Electoral Commission. "The EC sends presiding officers to oversse the election exercise. The army is very democratic." 

Muhoozi

Ankunda maintained that the President was yet to make his nominations. "We are still waiting to hear from him," he noted.

However there talk in corridors of power that Brig Muhoozi could be nominated to replace Sejusa to enable the commander of the elite force hone his political skills in preparation for a political office.

The Special Forces Group (SFG) has since called for patience; saying when the President makes his choice the country would be informed.

Insiders tell Chimpreports that given the heated public debate on NRM succession politics, with Muhoozi being turned into a punching bag, Museveni might decide to keep him away from polarized Parliament.

However, other analysts argue that Museveni might second Muhoozi to replace Sejusa to enable the youthful army officer have a clear taste of Uganda's murky political waters which would eventually shape his political career.

"Museveni has always sent Muhoozi to the hottest battles in Northern Uganda and Somalia. Why would the President fear to test his son's political stamina by sending him to Parliament?" a source, who preferred to remain anonymous so as to speak freely, observed.

The source reminded this Corp that while Museveni used to underestimate his wife, Janet Museveni's political clout, he later supported her MP bid for Ruhaama Constituency.

Janet would later be named State Minister for Karamoja before being elevated to Cabinet Minister after the President swept the northern region vote in 2011 elections.

It is widely believed that Janet's poverty eradication schemes, disarmament policy and pacification of Karamoja and other war-torn areas played a pivotal role in alienating the once opposition stronghold from Dr Kizza Besigye in the 2011 polls.

With the Special Forces Group (SFG) performing well in Somalia and Central African Republic plus successfully thwarting harmful plans against the President, Museveni could now decide to help Muhoozi grow his political clout.

It is also feared that Museveni may succumb to forces from within the army which would want to disprove critics that Muhoozi is simply a beneficiary of his father's brand and that he cannot form a powerful political base without the President's input.

Muhoozi is yet to express his desires to serve as an army MP; and neither has he showed interest in running for presidency.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower