Uganda's Next President? General Muhoozi Kainerugaba's Love for Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Sparks Controversy

Early this week, The Telegraph, a British newspaper, published a scathing article against General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), headlined "Hardman who may be Uganda’s next president is Putin fan and asked Meloni to marry him." Authored by Adrian Blomfield based in Nairobi, the article relies on inconclusive, light, and obscure but jovial X posts made in the past on the General’s X account to arrive at its deductions. What is more, several falsehoods, half-truths, and redundant assertions are also extensively peddled in the article, all packaged as expert analysis on the Ugandan current political environment.

This is lazy journalism at best, or at worst, a deliberate continuation of structured western biases against Africa, and the global south generally. Even more worrying, journalists like Blomfield and his ilk are obviously in the pay of certain western intelligence organisations whose neo-colonial agenda is still ferociously active and is well known to Africans.

Luckily, the type of content generated by the likes of Mr. Blomfield for the Telegraph is designed for prejudiced western audiences and largely inconsequential to the people of Africa, in this case Uganda.  The people understand their struggles, their history, their ambitions, they know their allies, and crucially, how to forge their way forward. The people of Africa can tell their own stories too, much better than the racist, bigoted, and prejudiced western characters.

Western Hypocrisy and Imperialist Agenda

Take the case of the much hyped $1 billion in US aid to Uganda per year, or support from development partners for that matter.  Firstly, the US does not give Uganda $1 billion worth of aid annually, at least not directly to the Ugandan government. That is one of the many myths western agents have conjured up over the years.  We know that the US and other partners have preferred to channel the bulk of their funding to private groups such as NGOs and opposition political parties, and therefore, the government and the people of Uganda cannot account for those monies.  However, even for genuine development funding to Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has been on record many times to appreciate help from our external partners.

Nonetheless, it should be noted that this support is not provided for free but for mutual gain between partners. This is because Uganda also plays a constructive role in the interconnected and interdependent international system. Global areas of beneficial cooperation include environmental issues such as protection of key ecosystems, climate change mitigation measures, disease and epidemic control, transnational crime, and terrorism, among others. 

Refugees

Uganda also plays host to close to 2 million refugees from around Africa and has done so for decades. Additionally, Uganda has for more than 30 years significantly contributed to regional security efforts in Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and Somalia.  Scores of Ugandan troops have lost their lives on some of these missions. How much would this contribution by Uganda to international peace and security amount to in dollar terms? 

Besides, the west has robbed or exploited African resources for centuries even after the fallacy of independence in the 1950s and 60s by many countries on the continent. Done for over 200 years and still counting, how much in dollar terms does this sustained heist amount to? 

Therefore, western chest thumping over exaggerated development aid to developing countries propagated by imperialist agents ought to be properly contextualised for our people. Most importantly, it should never again be tolerated as a tool to continue subduing Africa.

The Trump Effect and the Ukraine Conflict

In the last decade or so, two unrelated but important events have helped to bring to the fore western hypocrisy on global issues and laid bare their flawed belief that they are the infinite masters of the world. One is the ascendancy of billionaire President Donald Trump to the helm of American Politics.  Suddenly, the western elite, deep state, championed by the Mainstream Media (MSM) decided they did not like him. It was no longer about the tenets of democracy after all.  For more than 10 years, the choreographed machinations of MSM on both sides of the North Atlantic have set upon Trump like a pack of wolves to the utter consternation and bemusement of many informed observers in the world.

What had happened to the independent and free press? Thanks to the Trump effect, the MSM is now also widely recognised as the fake news media.

Ukraine conflict

The second aspect is the onset of the violent Russo-Ukrainian conflict at the beginning of 2022. The west has sought to portray Russia as the mad dog, relying extensively on their wide-reach MSM to project their propaganda worldwide. This has been to little avail. In effect, the west is trying to do to Russia, the successor state to the vast Soviet Union, what they did to Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1885: balkanise it.  This explains the continued NATO expansion and determination to absorb Ukraine under its fold, which would certainly be swiftly followed by new target countries for the same intended outcome: unchallenged global dominion.  Two countries, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, easily come to mind.  It is thus a given that after Ukraine, the west (NATO) would quickly move to try and annex other territories in pursuit of total global hegemony.

Fortunately, as with the hot American politics, the advent of digital social media has come in handy and helped the world to expose the long hidden soft underbelly of the ostentatious western fake news.

The West's History of Imperialism and Exploitation

For a long time, over two centuries, European powers particularly Great Britain and France dominated global affairs, or more accurately, commandeered the globe. At its peak from around the 18th to the early 20th century, the British empire for example was widely revered as the most powerful in the world, controlling about 25% of the earth land mass.  This vast empire stretched from the Americas, Africa, Asia (Pakistan, India, China), and to Australia. Indeed, as the British were fond of boasting, even today, the sun never set on their vast fortune.

It is during the period of unfettered global dominance by the imperialists that some of the worst and most despicable crimes against humanity were committed: slave trade in Africa, genocide – in some cases the entire extermination of whole races (Red Indians in America, Aborigines in Australia), and the blatant looting of natural resources (timber, gold, diamond, and other precious minerals). It was total subjugation in all its glory.  Despite the horrifying evidence and history, the world has never as much seen any iota of accountability for these grave crimes against humanity. No apologies. Not from their leaders, affiliated organisations, the media, or anything. It was quite the reverse, and it continues to be so.

The western media, self-proclaimed beacons of democracy and human rights, were for a long time the ring-cheerleaders for colonialism and imperialism. They have never as much regretted the egregious slavery of Africans, and seemingly hope to continue that policy in other forms well into the 21st century.  If not for anything, therefore, the long-suffering lesson for Africans is something they must do well to dwell upon. For starters, no authority should ever be permitted to determine who their leaders should be except themselves.

Uganda's Future: A Peaceful Transition

For the case of Uganda, if General Muhoozi Kainerugaba embodies the aspirations of the Ugandan people, the people will install him in power through a popular vote. No other criteria are required, least of all by opinionated foreign influencers.  President Yoweri Museveni, despite his longevity in office, remains a darling and hero to most Ugandans. This is on account of his monumental and historic contribution to the country’s social economic transformation that has expanded by leaps and bounds over the last 4 decades.

If Ugandans still want him, so be it. Regardless, a political transition is already taking place and it will be peaceful to the end. Ugandans instinctively know and understand this process very well.  For the political opposition in Uganda, playing to the gallery in pursuit of funding, cheap visas, residency permits, and political asylum in Europe, USA, and Canada is the ultimate Judas Iscariot incarnate.  To seek and employ the services of conceited and hegemonic western actors to prop your selfish ambitions at the expense of your homeland is the height of treachery. This is true for other peoples of the world, now more ever awake about the prevailing global issues of concern.

The author is a senior citizen