Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has openly declared that he will seek Uganda’s Presidency in 2031, providing the clearest indication yet that President Yoweri Museveni’s son intends to pursue the country’s top political office after his father’s current term.
In a post on X on Tuesday evening, Muhoozi said: “I will stand for the highest office in the land in 2031. And we will win by the grace of Almighty God.”
The declaration was quickly amplified by Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) former Secretary General David Kabanda, who reposted Muhoozi’s statement.
Muhoozi’s announcement comes months after he opted out of the 2026 presidential race, despite having previously built a political movement around an anticipated bid.
He now appears to have shifted his sights to the next electoral cycle, when he would seek to succeed Museveni, who was sworn in for a seventh consecutive term in May 2026.
The succession question has surrounded Muhoozi for more than a decade.
In 2013, then-General David Sejusa raised alarm over what he described as a plan to position Muhoozi to succeed his father, a controversy that eventually became popularly known as the “Muhoozi Project.”
Muhoozi supporters later organised across the country before the movement was transformed into the PLU in 2024.
Muhoozi, who rose through the Uganda People’s Defence Force and became CDF in 2024, has increasingly occupied a prominent position in Uganda’s political landscape. His social-media statements and public interventions have frequently drawn national attention.
Although Museveni has denied grooming his son as his successor, analysts and observers have continued to regard Muhoozi as a leading figure in the succession debate.
The 2031 declaration therefore transforms years of speculation into an explicit political commitment and is likely to intensify debate over Uganda’s post-Museveni transition.
