Museveni’s brother hits back at Ssemujju on nepotism claims

The Mawogola North County Member of Parliament, said relatives of the President should not be denied opportunities to serve the country because of their relationship with him.

President Yoweri Museveni’s younger brother, Godfrey Aine Kaguta, has defended the appointment of members of the First Family to public positions, dismissing claims by exiled opposition politician Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda that Uganda has been turned into a “family affair”.

Kaguta, the Mawogola North County Member of Parliament, said relatives of the President should not be denied opportunities to serve the country because of their relationship with him.

Last week, Ssemujju accused President Museveni of promoting nepotism by appointing family members to influential positions, including his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba as Chief of Defence Forces, his brother Gen Salim Saleh as the coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation, and First Lady Janet Museveni as Minister of Education and Sports.

“When a man appoints his son the head of the military, puts his brother in charge of wealth distribution, puts his son-in-law in charge of the country’s exports and above all, appoints his sick wife minister for education, you do not need a PhD holder in history to tell you that you have been turned into slaves. You are no longer citizens, you are slaves,” Ssemujju said in a recent message from exile.

Responding to the claims, Kaguta said critics had ignored the contributions made by some of Museveni’s relatives before they took up government positions.

“Why is it that nobody questioned when Mzee Amos Kaguta’s sons were in the bush fighting for this nation’s freedom?”

Sodo Aine

He cited Gen Salim Saleh’s role during the National Resistance Army (NRA) bush war and Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s military service in Uganda and abroad as evidence that their contribution to the country predates their current positions.

“Nobody cared when Gen. Salim Saleh had bullets go through his body while liberating this country. Nobody questioned when Gen. Muhoozi served his nation in Garamba, Somalia +++,” he said.

Sodo further questioned why being related to the President should automatically disqualify someone from holding public office.

“My fellow Ugandans, why should being the President’s wife, brother, son, or relative disqualify a Ugandan from serving their own nation?” he asked.

“Isn’t that clear double standards? Should we say that their sacrifice was never a problem then but now that reward is involved offence takes precedence?”

The legislator said President Museveni had a record of identifying talent among Ugandans without family connections and argued that the same ability to recognise competence should apply when assessing relatives.

“President Museveni has a proven record of identifying, nurturing talent and bringing out the best in people,” Kaguta said.

“I’m curious if the eye that has spotted ability in countless Ugandans with no relation to him at all and elevated them to serve with him is the same eye that would go blind or biased the moment it looked at those close to it.”

Ssemujju, a former Kira Municipality MP and secretary general of the opposition People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), has been living outside Uganda since June after travelling to Saudi Arabia for Umrah before later relocating to a neighbouring country.

He has continued to criticise the government’s handling of opposition figures, including the arrests and detention of Dr Kizza Besigye, Erias Lukwago and Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi.