General Muhoozi declares presidential bid in 2031 election
General Muhoozi declares presidential bid in 2031 election
Uganda’s military chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba says he will run for president in 2031, five years after stepping aside from the 2026 race.
At 52, he is now openly positioning himself as a successor to his father, President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986.
For years, Muhoozi’s presidential ambitions have existed somewhere between political speculation and public declarations.
In posts on X on August 25 and 26, the 52-year-old Chief of Defence Forces said he would contest Uganda’s presidency in 2031.
He went further, saying that with the support of his father, he expected to win 90 per cent of the vote.
That is a striking claim in a country where President Yoweri Museveni, 81, has been in power since 1986.
Muhoozi’s announcement therefore does more than launch another presidential bid.
It puts Uganda’s long-running succession question firmly on the political calendar.
Muhoozi was already expected by many to make a presidential run in the January 2026 election.
His supporters had built a political mobilisation network around him, first through the MK Movement and later the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), which he chairs.
But Muhoozi eventually stayed out of the race.
He backed his father’s re-election and said he would concentrate on his military responsibilities.
Museveni won another term.
Muhoozi has now effectively moved the contest forward by five years.
And PLU has not disappeared in the meantime.
The organisation has been rebuilding its grassroots structures following the 2026 election, including a post-election mobilisation meeting in Kyegegwa.
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This is what makes Muhoozi different from the average politician announcing an early presidential bid.
He is Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, the highest-ranking professional officer in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.
The UPDF’s official leadership listing identifies President Museveni as Commander-in-Chief and Muhoozi as CDF.
So Uganda now has a serving military chief openly declaring that he wants to become president.
Muhoozi’s political activity while serving in the military has attracted scrutiny before.
His social-media interventions have repeatedly generated controversy, while his political network has expanded alongside his military career.
That combination – army chief, president’s son and head of a political mobilization organization – gives his 2031 declaration a significance that goes beyond a conventional campaign announcement.
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