NARROW ESCAPE: When First Son Muhoozi Kainerugaba Almost Died During a Military Drill

First son and commander land forces Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has narrated how he almost got killed in a military drill. 

Some Ugandans have always raised eyebrows on Lt Gen Kainerugaba’s promotions, saying he was not a battle-hardened general.

But in an interview with veteran media personality Arinaitwe Rugyendo, Muhoozi narrated his close shave with death in a military drill.

The interview centred on Operation Shujaa, an offensive against ADF in DR Congo.

According to CLF Kainerugaba, the UPDF has only lost three soldiers, “mainly through our own mistakes.”

He revealed that one soldier lost his life “because he was standing too close to his friend when he was firing an RPG!”

This was the same mistake that almost cost the first son his life 20 years ago.

In a military drill ahead of an operation against the LRA in Teso, Museveni’s son nearly got killed.

“I got the same problem in 2002 when Mzee [President Museveni] sent us for an exercise in Kabamba before we went to Teso to battle a Lord’s Resistence Army (LRA) incursion there,” narrated Kainerugaba.

“I stood very close to one of our soldiers who was firing an RPG. The back blast threw me like 10 meters. The next thing I remember was waking up at the MRS [Medical Reception Station] in Kabamba.”

Samuel Kamugisha

Samuel Kamugisha is a Ugandan journalist, editor, language instructor, poet, fiction and non-fiction writer. A Makerere University graduate of Journalism and Communication with a decade-long experience in news reporting, writing and editing, Kamugisha is Editor at The Pearl Times. Most of his previous work was published by The Observer. When he is not doing journalism work -- which is rare -- Kamugisha will be reading or writing a short story or a poem, or caught up in the writer's block.

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