KAMPALA — Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has publicly told Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi that he will “never be a Minister again,” escalating a sharp online confrontation that has drawn national attention.
The exchange unfolded after Baryomunsi moved to distance government policy from Gen. Muhoozi’s earlier, now-deleted posts that had briefly unsettled Uganda–United States relations.
Speaking on Capital FM Uganda, Baryomunsi said the CDF does not speak for government through personal social media accounts, describing the posts as casual remarks rather than official policy.
He added that such statements complicate government communications and disclosed that he had raised the matter with the appointing authority, including President Yoweri Museveni.
Gen. Muhoozi hit back on X, accusing Baryomunsi of disloyalty and declaring that he would never return to Cabinet.
In a series of posts on Wednesday morning, the CDF told the minister to “make peace” with him and warned that he should be “more worried about jail,” comments that drew heightened scrutiny given Muhoozi’s position at the head of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces.
In response, Baryomunsi said: “My father trained me to believe in myself. He restrained me from taking alcohol. Am sober 24/7 and focussed. He let me free and I don’t suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome. Those attacking me on Twitter/X don’t know the material, we the original Bakiga are made of. Go slow.”
Muhoozi responded: “It doesn’t matter. We are still sacking you. You probably need the Peter Pan Syndrome.”
Baryomunsi rejected suggestions that his political standing depended on patronage.
“I rose from obscurity to where I am because of my abilities, not favours from anybody,” he wrote, adding that being a minister was “not necessarily the best thing in life” and that his ambitions extended beyond Cabinet office.
The dispute builds on remarks made last week by Daudi Kabanda, the Secretary General of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), who criticised Baryomunsi’s radio comments and argued that statements made by the country’s top military officer cannot be dismissed as mere personal opinion.
Kabanda argued that the head of the army is not an ordinary commentator and that public messaging from such an office inevitably carries political and diplomatic consequences, regardless of whether it is later framed as personal opinion.
He also cast Baryomunsi’s position as politically motivated, saying government communicators should not publicly “diminish” the CDF, especially at a time when the ruling establishment is managing sensitive relations with external partners.
The dispute then escalated dramatically on X. In a lengthy post directed at Baryomunsi, Kabanda described the minister as “a known opportunist” who joined government for “political survival,” and accused him of lacking the moral authority to criticise Gen. Muhoozi.
Kabanda went further, making a series of serious allegations about Baryomunsi’s past political conduct, including claims linked to an election period in Kanungu and accusations involving coercion, intimidation and political blackmail.
Baryomunsi hit back in a sharply worded response, dismissing Kabanda’s remarks as “a forest of empty talk” and saying he had no energy to engage with someone he described as “intellectually jaundiced,” a rebuttal that further amplified the confrontation online.
The exchange unfolded after Baryomunsi moved to distance government policy from Gen. Muhoozi’s earlier, now-deleted posts that had briefly unsettled Uganda–United States relations.
Speaking on Capital FM Uganda, Baryomunsi said the CDF does not speak for government through personal social media accounts, describing the posts as casual remarks rather than official policy.
He added that such statements complicate government communications and disclosed that he had raised the matter with the appointing authority, including President Yoweri Museveni.
Gen. Muhoozi hit back on X, accusing Baryomunsi of disloyalty and declaring that he would never return to Cabinet.
In a series of posts on Wednesday morning, the CDF told the minister to “make peace” with him and warned that he should be “more worried about jail,” comments that drew heightened scrutiny given Muhoozi’s position at the head of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces.
In response, Baryomunsi said: “My father trained me to believe in myself. He restrained me from taking alcohol. Am sober 24/7 and focussed. He let me free and I don’t suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome. Those attacking me on Twitter/X don’t know the material, we the original Bakiga are made of. Go slow.”
Muhoozi responded: “It doesn’t matter. We are still sacking you. You probably need the Peter Pan Syndrome.”
Baryomunsi rejected suggestions that his political standing depended on patronage.
“I rose from obscurity to where I am because of my abilities, not favours from anybody,” he wrote, adding that being a minister was “not necessarily the best thing in life” and that his ambitions extended beyond Cabinet office.
The dispute builds on remarks made last week by Daudi Kabanda, the Secretary General of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), who criticised Baryomunsi’s radio comments and argued that statements made by the country’s top military officer cannot be dismissed as mere personal opinion.
Kabanda argued that the head of the army is not an ordinary commentator and that public messaging from such an office inevitably carries political and diplomatic consequences, regardless of whether it is later framed as personal opinion.
He also cast Baryomunsi’s position as politically motivated, saying government communicators should not publicly “diminish” the CDF, especially at a time when the ruling establishment is managing sensitive relations with external partners.
The dispute then escalated dramatically on X. In a lengthy post directed at Baryomunsi, Kabanda described the minister as “a known opportunist” who joined government for “political survival,” and accused him of lacking the moral authority to criticise Gen. Muhoozi.
Kabanda went further, making a series of serious allegations about Baryomunsi’s past political conduct, including claims linked to an election period in Kanungu and accusations involving coercion, intimidation and political blackmail.
Baryomunsi hit back in a sharply worded response, dismissing Kabanda’s remarks as “a forest of empty talk” and saying he had no energy to engage with someone he described as “intellectually jaundiced,” a rebuttal that further amplified the confrontation online.