SUCCESSION: Some powerful members of President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s First Family are said to be in the queue to take over from the elderly Ugandan leader in 2026 – or at least in the year he may choose or be forced to retire.
In 2021, President Museveni was able to win a presidential election. This got him another term of five years at the helm, meaning that he him a five-year term that will end in 2026.
Museveni is aged 78. By the close of his current term, he will be 82. He will also have been president for a cool four decades, and will have become the longest serving leader of the impoverished East African nation, having ruled longer than all the past presidents combined.
It is not clear if Museveni will seek another term but he is eligible for election according to the laws of the land, thanks to a 2017 amendment that erased the presidential age limit from the Constitution.
The question of Museveni’s 2026 candidature remains unresolved as is that of transition and succession from Uganda’s longest serving president. A group of ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has already made efforts to popularize his candidature.
Museveni is yet to officially state his official position on the group’s ‘Jajja omalako, tova ku Main’ campaign and whether he will run for another term.
According to political commentator and journalist Andrew Mwenda, Museveni will run for president in 2026 and 2031 as long as he is not dead.
Uganda, an oil-rich East African country, has never had a peaceful transition since independence.
Even when Museveni has not yet come out to speak on his 2026 presidential bid, some political observers are pointing to the following members of the first family as reportedly being in a succession queue.
GEN MUHOOZI KAINERUGABA, FIRST SON, SENIOR PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR ON SPECIAL OPERATIONS
The talk of President Museveni reportedly grooming his son to succeed him is not new. The ‘Muhoozi Project’ idea was first broached by former spymaster Gen David Tinyefuuza aka Sejusa in 2013.
Gen Tinyefuuza aka Sejusa was claimed there was a plot to eliminate top military and political leaders opposed to a plan by Museveni to make his son succeed him.
Although both Museveni and the first son had dismissed reports of such a plot, the steady elevation of Gen Kainerugaba in military ranks and administration continued to raise eyebrows.
Muhoozi has since come out of shell, expressed his interest in the presidency, and made it clear that he was tired of waiting forever, and that Museveni should leave State House and hand over power to him. Museveni also recently seemed to endorse his son’s MK Movement. (See Details Here and There).
You can also see the names politicians, businessmen, and media personalities behind first son Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s 2026 presidential project to succeed his father Museveni HERE.
ODREK RWABWOGO, FIRST SON-IN-LAW
First son-in-law Odrek Rwabwogo, who is husband to Museveni’s daughter Patience, was previously in the news over reported presidential ambitions.
In 2015, the ruling NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) blocked Rwabwogo’s plan to challenge Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza for the position of Vice Chairman for Western Uganda.
Since then, Rwabwogo has concentrated on his businesses until an NRM youth group called Odrek Disciples came out to express support for his rumored 2026 presidential candidature.
But Rwabwogo has denied having such ambitions and made it clear Uganda is not a monarchy. (See Details Here).
GEN SALIM SALEH, MUSEVENI BROTHER & OWC BOSS
President Yoweri Museveni’s younger brother Gen Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh is many things: a former bush war commander, former minister and now Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) boss.
To some political observers, Gen Salim Saleh is the de facto Vice President of Uganda because of the power he is said to wield in decision making.
But this power is not in the formal structures of government but in what the opposition terms ‘the shadow state.’
“Salim Saleh is a pervasive presence in the Ugandan shadow state. Despite having no formal senior position in government (he is notionally a senior presidential adviser on defense) Saleh is often referred to as the deputy president. Before his health deteriorated some years ago he was considered to be Museveni’s most likely successor,” wrote Dr Lisa Rolls in a report titled ‘The Shadow State in Africa.’
Salim Saleh is seen as a fearless General with potential to remove Museveni from power if he wanted. (See Details Here).
JANET MUSEVENI: FIRST LADY & EDUCATION MINISTER
Janet Kataaha Museveni is President Museveni’s wife and Uganda’s minister of Education and Sports. She is a staunch Christian and the priestess of the First Family together with first daughter Patience Rwabwogo, a city pastor.
Janet Museveni has previously represented the people of Ruhaama County as an MP. She would later say God had told her to quit elective politics.
Before her husband appointed her education minister, Janet Museveni was minister in charge of Karamoja affairs.
Janet believes it was God who chose Museveni to lead Uganda and He will choose his successor. But the first lady is rumored to be among the most powerful officials in government and is classified among the ‘super ministers’ in cabinet.
Whenever President Museveni has broached the issue of his son or any of his family members — none of who has publicly expressed interest in the presidency — being in queue to succeed him, he has always said the people of Uganda will decide on who should lead them. (See Details Here).
A famous prophet, who correctly predicted the election of a new president in the region, has claimed that God has shown him the person who will be Uganda’s next president after Museveni has left power. It should be remembered that Ugandan President Gen Museveni is on sick leave after being infected with Covid19. The country has an ‘acting president’. (Read Stories Here and There).
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