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Uganda President Yoweri Museveni’s son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is also the Commander of the Land Forces on Monday evening deactivated his Twitter account, something that has since sparked debate among Ugandans.
In the wee hours of Monday night and the morning hours of Tuesday, a number of social media users first thought that Twitter had suspended the account over a violation of its civic integrity policy, but that was not the case.
Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was the first to celebrate, saying that Twitter had saved Ugandans from the “irritating, awful, treasonous tweets that were risking lives.”
Nile Post however was able to establish that for suspended accounts on the popular microblogging site, the flag “Account Suspended” always shows, which was not on Muhoozi’s account indicating that he either deleted it himself or someone with access to the account deactivated it.
Order from “above”
A section of Ugandans believes that the account might have been deleted due to an order from “above” due to what they called his recent “reckless” tweets.
The UPDF commander had for at least three years now, become regularly active on Twitter with some of his tweets coming off as ‘reckless’ in the eyes of opinion leaders and a section of Ugandans online.
Muhoozi often times could make tweets about Uganda’s position on diplomatic issuers, the most recent one being the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He would also touch on regional affairs and the army.
Journalist Mordecai Muriisa thinks that someone slightly above him in the hierarchy might have suggested that he deactivate his account.
Muhoozi is seeking attention
To some, the deactivation is simply meant to attract attention and make Muhoozi widely discussed in the media. One James Kakeeto said that he expects the first son to come back on his darling social media platform soon.
“It is what I suspect, that (Muhoozi) likes attention. He is now watching people talk about it and is rejoicing. He will reactivate it soon and his supporters will then praise him as having been “triumphant,” Kakeeto said.
One Walusimbi also shared the same sentiments. He said that it is likely a “ploy” to trend on Twitter ahead of his 48th birthday celebrations.
“We are likely to see hashtags like #WelcomeBackMK #MKWinsTwitter and the likes being brandished by the praise team,” Walusimbi said.
At the time the account was suspended, Muhoozi had announced a mega birthday celebration as he marks 48 years later this month.
We shall still support him
Young entrepreneur and CEO of Jada Coffee Jackie Arinda said that she will join other Ugandans to support Muhoozi, whether his account is reinstated on Twitter or not.
“We shall keep supporting you, keep up the good work,” Arinda noted.
The Twitter policy on account deactivations recommends that users must have to reactivate their accounts within a time frame of 30 days or else the account gets permanently deleted.
It remains to be seen if Muhoozi will reactivate his before the 30 days ultimatum.
