What to believe? Uganda’s possible next president vows to repeal Kill the Gays Law
Son of President Museveni calls for repeal of Anti-Homosexuality Act in a tweet — now deleted
Uganda’s defense chief and son of Museveni vows to remove AHA in 2026
Uganda’s Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba — who also happens to be President Museveni’s son — has declared his own war against the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) 2023 calling for its removal.
It a series of posts on X (Twitter) that he has since deleted, Muhoozi disregarded his parents’ anti-gay stance and declared the AHA a small law that should be dropped.
“In 2026, we shall remove this Anti-Homosexuality Act. They [LGBTQ people] are sick people, but since the Creator made them…what do we do? Even Kiboko [Swahili for “caning”] might not work. We shall pray for them,” he posted.
In another X post that has been deleted, the “tweeting general” stated;
“I was in Japan recently and people asked me why we are persecuting the homosexuals? I was totally shocked and very hurt. Japanese are warriors like us. I respect them very much. I asked them how we are oppressing them? They told me about the AHA. Compatriots, let’s get rid of that small law. Our friends around the world are misunderstanding us”.
Why wait for 2026 to remove the law, if it is already harming Ugandans and Uganda’s relations with allies around the world?
Eric Ndawula, a queer LGBTQI+ rights activist was able to comment on one of Muhoozi’s tweets before it was deleted.
“If really it is a misunderstanding as you claim in this tweet, Uganda should then decriminalize homosexuality entirely, the Section 145 of the penal code Act is still on Uganda’s books of law. Striking this too would not stop the homophobia but it will definitely be a good start”, he wrote.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 imposes penalties of up to life in prison for consensual same-sex relations and contains provisions that make “aggravated homosexuality” an offense punishable by death.
Another key question is whether such posts should be taken seriously unlike previous equally wild posts such as the recent one in which Muhoozi threatened to cut off the head of the leading opposition figure Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
He has also deleted posts in which he threatened to attack the U.S Embassy in Uganda and to capture the Sudanese Capital Khartoum with support from President Trump, whom he frequently praises.
For many observers, Muhoozi’s X posts are as dangerous and reckless as ones that Trump has posted on X.
For those reasons, the posts have not caused a lot of excitement in the LGBTQI+ rights movement.
His X posts, coming often late at night or very early in the morning, have become a headache not only for his cheerleaders such as Balam Barugahare, the current State Minister for Gender, but also an area of concern for Muhoozi’s informal “uncle”, Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, who once offered to edit his tweets:
“President Kagame tells Muhoozi; ‘Gen. Muhoozi I want to offer a service to you. I want to start editing your twitter page’ ’ — UBC UGANDA (@ubctvuganda) April 25, 2022”.
Apparently, Mr. Muhoozi believes that General Museveni has chosen him as his successor come 2026 and that probably explains why he plans to remove AHA in 2026 and not now when he is not in charge.
Moses Khisa, a political science lecturer at North Carolina State University told Al Jazeera that tweeting is not helping the general’s presumed desire to occupy Uganda’s top office as he “seems not to have the wisdom and sophistication of the father”.
“Many of us who didn’t know him now despise him just from the tweets he has issued,” Khisa said.
