Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) Chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba says the German Ambassador Mathias Schauer is meddling in Uganda's issues. Ugandans hold that Muhoozi is being prepared by his father, President Museveni, as the heir to his rule, a speculative view that various Ugandan opposition leaders, including Bobi Wine, challenge.
On Saturday, Schauer and other ambassadors reportedly challenged Muhoozi’s provocative remarks on social media during a meeting of the European Union Delegation and Salim Saleh, Museveni’s brother, held in Gulu.
In a nutshell, Muhoozi posted on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account that the German Ambassador was not qualified to be in Uganda.
“We are having some issues with the current German Ambassador to Uganda. It has to do with him as a person. He is wholly unqualified to be in Uganda. It has nothing to do with the great German people whom I admire a lot,” said Muhoozi.
There has been a beef between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, which critics view as a war of the state house. In 2019, Bobi Wine appeared before a court over an accusation that he had annoyed President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Opposition speaks
However, the opposition has an opposing perspective on this. Bobi Wine, the opposition leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP), views the accusation against Schauer as a cooked narrative to retaliate against the Gulu remarks.
“Just hours after the Gulu meeting, the regime has retaliated, now ridiculously accusing Ambassador Schauer of sponsoring unidentified rebel groups to overthrow it,” Pro-Museveni’s regime leader Bobi Wine posts on his social media handle.
In July 2024, President Museveni ordered courts not to accept bail for corruption suspects. The Crackdown on opposition leaders, including Bobi Wine and the former opposition leader Kizza Besigye, have often been reported. Wine brands the current government's accusation of the German Ambassador as masking accountability, dictatorship and corruption.
“This is an all-too familiar script by the regime: manufacturing ‘threats’ to shield itself from accountability and justify its relentless violent persecution of whomever demands an end to its dictatorship and corruption,” Wine added.
The opposition leader woos the world leaders to intervene and hold the government accountable for the offences alleged to have been committed against opposition leaders and Ugandan citizens.
Ugandans speak
Sen Mong’are Okong’o concurs with Muhoozi’s X post that Western envoys are still holding to the past, where they colonised Africans. Okong’o stresses the need for Africans not to be treated as subjects in the 21st century.
“General Muhoozi is right, some Western envoys still act with a colonial mindset, forgetting this is the 21st century. Africa deserves dignity, not condescension. We are sovereign hosts, not subjects. Respect is not a favour, it’s a demand,” said Okong'o.
Barugahara Balaam Ateenyi views the matter through a commercial lens. From March 2024 to March 2025, Uganda bagged $1.84 billion (Ugx 6.7 trillion) from 6.87 million coffee bags exported to Germany, up from 5.99 million bags worth $1.84 billion (Ugx 6.7 trillion) from April 2023 to March 2024, according to a report by Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Ateenyi advises that the German Ambassador's remarks should be treated in isolation, not to ruin the bilateral relations and coffee business between the two countries.
“Indeed, Supreme Leader, Germany has been a valuable partner. Through GIZ, they've shown significant support, and they're also our top coffee buyers. Our fruitful cooperation should not be hindered by one individual. I know you will sort the small issue soon,” he adds.
