Taking close scrutiny to his recent tweets and visits to neighboring states, The Fatboy Show Presenters James Onen aka Fatboy and Olive Najjuma have said that the Commander of Land Forces and first son Muhoozi Kainerugaba might be positioning himself for the highest office in the country.
The duo made the arguments following the re-opening of the Gatuna/ Katuna border after visits made by Lt. Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to Rwanda after nearly 3 years of closure. Also a Special Advisor to President Museveni, the General flew to kigali to discuss Rwanda’s concerns and practical steps needed to restore the relationship between Rwanda and Uganda.
“I’ve always believed that there’s something more to his tweets than meets the eye, I think that he's being strategic in how he does it. You could accuse me of overthinking about it but that’s my suspicion,” Fatboy said.
Olive also commented, “he has pulled a first on us, first he met with Kenyatta and now Kagame!” Fatboy continued, saying, “I think this could be an indication of something that could happen in the future. Because all of a sudden he’s starting to position himself and present himself as a statesman. And now, he’s engaging in diplomacy!”
“The other day I saw an article in one of the local dailies saying that Muhoozi is being cultivated into politics which looks like it because now, he's a Special Advisor to the President. He is being groomed,” said Olive.
Further commenting on the three-year-long border closure, Olive believes that Rwanda emerged the winner of the feud since it was Uganda’s Commander of Land Forces that flew to Rwanda in effort to settle the dispute.
“When the border was closed, most people believed that it wouldn’t last for more than a year pertaining to how it would affect Rwanda’s economy. But some arguments say that Rwanda is not landlocked but land-linked because after two years of the closure, how have they been getting their goods? It has been through Tanzania and Burundi. So at the end of the day, I think Kagame won. It took a whole son of a President and the Commander of Land forces to have the border opened!” she said.
As part of the conditions made towards reopening of the border, the Rwandan Government asked Uganda to disband the groups presumed to be against its government such as the Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and the RUD-Urunana Networks in Uganda, as well as refraining from all activities meant to destabilize the Republic of Rwanda. Olive wondered why such long contentions and mistrust were happening particularly between the two countries and not with other states in East Africa.
“Perhaps it's because there’s a thin line between love and hate. The two countries are linked because of the numerous intermarriages, we are so close that there will always be potential for contention,” Fatboy commented.
Due to the close relationship Museveni and Kagame have where Museveni even treats Kagame as a son, Fatboy is of the view that Kagame might have wanted to prove to President Museveni that Rwanda is fit enough to handle its business.
Speaking on this, Olive was thankful about the development saying, “In East Africa, Uganda and Rwanda are more of sister countries, their President himself spent part of his life here, studied here and was part of the National Resistance Army (NRA).”
She went on to add that she is also half-Ugandan and half-Rwandese. “Actually my mother’s grandparents migrated from Rwanda to Uganda.” Fatboy, amazed, joked that now people would be able to make sense as to why Olive has ‘that’ shape and tone.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.