A team of European Union (EU) member state Ambassadors, led by the EU Ambassador to Uganda, Jan Sadek told Gen Saleh that Gen Muhoozi, in one of his controversial posts on X-platform (former Twitter), had threatened “to take us to his basement.”
EU Ambassador to Uganda Jan Sadek (L) interacts with Gulu University Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof David Okello Owiny on May 21 2025 at Gulu University campus in Gulu city.
The Chief Coordinator of Operation
Wealth Creation (OWC), Gen Salim Saleh, has assured European Union diplomats in
Uganda of safety amidst alleged threats against them by the Chief of Defence Forces
(CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
A team of European Union (EU) member
state Ambassadors, led by the EU Ambassador to Uganda, Jan Sadek, told Gen Saleh
that Gen Muhoozi, in one of his controversial posts on X-platform (former Twitter), had threatened “to take us to his basement.”
The diplomats visited Gen Saleh to understand whether Northern Uganda could be part of the country's future potential, how he sees the political development in Northern Uganda, but also at the national stage ahead of the 2026 general elections. Their visit to the region was also to monitor key EU funded development projects.
Sadek however highlighted that the political atmosphere was already polarized
and particularly stressed the growing treats coming from the CDF through his posts on social media that targeted the EU Members State Ambassadors.
Gen Saleh howeve,r downplayed the
threats against the EU diplomats describing Gen Muhoozi as a “nice guy” and “not
really a big issue”.
He admitted that the CDF at one
point Gen Muhoozi attempted to threaten the Uganda Human Rights Commission Boss Miriam
Fauzat Wangadya after she demanded the release of Eddie Mutwe, the Chief Body
Guard of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party President Robert Bobi Wine
from Gen Muhoozi’s basement.
Gen Saleh described Gen Muhoozi
as a GEN Z soldier (people born between 1996 and 2010) and the only CDF who didn’t
come from the National Resistance Army, the Uganda Liberation Army and the Uganda
Army, citing the UPDF was created in 1995.
//Cue in: “That one we…
Cue out:…their heads, I think.”//
During the engagement, Sadek highlighted that Gen Muhoozi’s threatening tweets had created security threats
not only to the EU diplomats but also to the wider aspect of security brutality
against the opposition.
Gen Saleh, however, assured the delegates that “We shall get him (Muhoozi) on board, we shall mobilise him if it has offended you”
Gen Saleh also pledged to give the EU
diplomats an insight into the mechanism they are working on to address the
abuses, arguing that what is happening started in 2018, but the mechanism they
created to curb it was never supported at the time.
The meeting which had
initially started off peacefully turned chaotic after Gen Saleh offered veteran
journalist Andrew Mwenda to defend Gen Muhoozi, being the spokesperson of the Patriotic
League Uganda (PLU) a movement created by Gen Muhoozi.
Mwenda, however, wasted no time in faulting
the Ambassadors for meddling in the internal affairs of Uganda.
“I think Western ambassadors,
whether in Uganda, have systems of governance in their countries which
they consider to be superior and universal,” he said.
Mwenda also alleged that the
Opposition party NUP, wasn’t organising for an election but planning for an insurrection
instead.
“…And that's what they're trying
to do, to organise militarily, to organise, not for an election, but for an
insurrection. Election is an opportunity to stimulate and precipitate an
insurrection, that's how they see politics,” said Mwenda.
Adding “they want a uniform. They
send people to Kenya. They send people to Congo. They practice military drills. Intelligence
has all this information.”
But David Pulkol, the former
Director of External Security Organisation (ESO), differed on the matter, arguing that the office of the CDF is a high office in which it should be used
to unite Ugandans, but not torture them and oppress them.
“The moment you enter such a high
office, you must put your shoes there, you must dust the mud from your feet
because you are going to the office which governs the entire country. Remember the
UPDF is a strong pillar on which our country is depending, it’s the one
which unites all of us”
He added that “Even if it is our
struggle, we have no right to oppress our people, to torture them”
Pulkol explained that the CDF
office is the pillar of the state, and “You must be careful how you conduct yourself,
because you unify everyone else. Why didn’t any other CDF do the same?”
The EU delegates yesterday
pointed out that the conduct of the CDF was already a huge reputational damage
to Uganda as a nation and called on the government to work on it.
