Kampala— Kasambya County MP Daudi Kabanda has announced that Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba will contest for Uganda’s presidency in the 2031 general elections, giving fresh political momentum to the long-running debate over President Yoweri Museveni’s succession.
Kabanda, who is also an official within the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), made the announcement on Tuesday while addressing a gathering of PLU supporters and legislators.
He said Gen Kainerugaba had sent him to communicate the decision and that the military chief had received the approval of President Museveni for the planned presidential bid.
“General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has told me to inform you that he will run for President 2031–2036,” Kabanda said, according to reports from the meeting.
The announcement comes only days after Gen Kainerugaba himself publicly declared his intention to seek the presidency in 2031.
Muhoozi makes his ambition public
On August 25, Gen Kainerugaba announced on X that he would seek what he described as the highest office in the country in 2031.
He expressed confidence that he would win the election and said he expected strong backing from his father, President Museveni.
Reuters reported that Kainerugaba said he expected to secure 90 per cent of the vote with Museveni’s support.
The declaration ended months of uncertainty about whether the Chief of Defence Forces would again seek the presidency after stepping away from a previously discussed 2026 bid.
Gen Kainerugaba, 52, has for years been regarded by his supporters as a possible successor to his father, who has been Uganda’s president since 1986.
His political activities have increasingly been linked to PLU, a political pressure group that he chairs.
Kabanda’s role
Kabanda has become one of the prominent political voices defending and promoting Gen Kainerugaba and the wider PLU project.
The Kasambya legislator previously served as PLU secretary general and has remained closely associated with the movement’s political mobilisation.
In an interview published by Daily Monitor in August, Kabanda described President Museveni and Gen Kainerugaba as his political “source”, saying much of his political career had been built with their support.
His latest announcement therefore carries significance within the PLU camp, particularly because it comes as the movement reorganises and expands its grassroots political activities following the 2026 elections.
A new succession debate
The announcement is likely to revive debate about the future leadership of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
President Museveni has not announced whether he intends to seek another term in 2031. Government officials have maintained that the president and the NRM will make that decision when the time comes.
That leaves an important political question: whether Gen Kainerugaba’s planned presidential bid will eventually be pursued through the NRM or another political platform.
For now, however, Kabanda’s statement places the Muhoozi camp’s intentions beyond speculation.
The PLU leadership is openly discussing a 2031 presidential campaign, while Gen Kainerugaba himself has publicly stated that he intends to compete.
PLU steps up mobilisation
The announcement also comes as PLU seeks to strengthen its structures after the 2026 elections.
According to reports from Tuesday’s meeting, Kabanda introduced attendees as “historicals” of PLU and said the group had been assembled for further engagement with Gen Kainerugaba.
The developments point to an effort to build a more organised political structure around the movement and its chairman.
For Gen Kainerugaba, the challenge will now be to turn his public declaration into a sustained political campaign while navigating his position as both a senior military officer and an increasingly prominent political figure.
What the announcement means
Gen Kainerugaba’s declaration changes the nature of Uganda’s succession debate.
For years, discussion about his political future was largely framed around whether he would eventually succeed his father. His latest statement, followed by Kabanda’s confirmation, gives that ambition a specific electoral target: the 2031 presidential election.
However, the announcement is not the same as formal nomination for the presidency.
The official electoral process, including nomination requirements and the eventual list of presidential candidates, will be handled through Uganda’s constitutional and electoral framework when the 2031 election process begins.
For the moment, the political message from the Muhoozi camp is clear: Gen Kainerugaba intends to compete for the presidency in 2031, and his supporters are beginning to organise around that objective.
The announcement is expected to keep the question of succession at the centre of Uganda’s political debate in the years ahead.
