KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — One figure looms large ahead of Uganda's elections Thursday, although he is not on the ballot: the president's son and military commander, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Kainerugaba, long believed to be the eventual successor, stood down for his father, President Yoweri Museveni, who is seeking a seventh term that would bring him closer to five decades in power.
Yet Kainerugaba, a four-star general, remains a key figure in Ugandan politics as the chief enforcer of his father’s rule in this east African country. He is the top military commander, appointed by his father nearly two years ago after Kainerugaba told a political rally he was ready to lead.
Kainerugaba’s appointment as army chief put his political campaign on hold — a least, critics say, for as long as Museveni still wants to stay.
Many Ugandans are now resigned to the prospect of hereditary rule, once vehemently denied by government officials who said claims of a secret “Muhoozi Project” for leadership were false and malicious.
Kainerugaba himself has been honest about his presidential hopes since at least 2023 and openly says he expects to succeed his father.
“I will be President of Uganda after my father,” he said in 2023, writing on social platform X. “Those fighting the truth will be very disappointed.”
The president’s son is more powerful than ever, his allies strategically deployed in command positions across the security services. As the presumed heir to the presidency, he is the recipient of loyalty pledges from candidates seeking minor political offices.
Kainerugaba joined the army in the late 1990s, and his fast rise to the top of the armed forces proved controversial.
In February 2024, a month before Kainerugaba was named army chief, the president officially delegated some of his authority as commander-in-chief to the head of the military.
Exercising authority previously reserved for the president, including promoting army officers of high rank and creating new army departments, Kainerugaba is more powerful than any army chief before him, said Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a political historian at Uganda’s Makerere University, adding that family rule appears inevitable.
“Honestly, I don’t see a way out through constitutional means,” he said.
Elections, he said, “is just wasting time, legitimizing authority but not intended as a democratic goal... Any change from Museveni will be determined by the military high command.”
With Museveni not saying when he would retire, a personality cult around Kainerugaba has emerged. Some Ugandans stage public celebrations of his birthday. Campaign posters of many seeking parliamentary seats often feature the emblem of Kainerugaba’s political group, the Patriotic League of Uganda. Speaker of Parliament Anita Among last year called Kainerugaba “God the Son."
The speaker's comments underscored the political rise of Kainerugaba in a country where the military is the most powerful institution and Museveni has no recognizable successors in the upper ranks of his party, the National Resistance Movement.
Some believe Kainerugaba is poised to take over in the event of a disorderly transition from Museveni, who is 81. One critic, ruminating on Kainerugaba’s military rank, has been urging the son to depose his father.
“I have endlessly appealed to Muhoozi Kainerugaba to, at least, pretend to coup his dad, become the opposition hero, and accuse the old man of all the crimes the general Kampala public accuses him of,” Yusuf Serunkuma, an academic and independent analyst, wrote in the local Observer newspaper last year.
“Sadly, Kainerugaba hasn’t heeded my calls thus far. That he is being pampered by his father to the presidency doesn’t look good at all.”
Kainerugaba’s supporters say he is humble in private and critical of the corruption that has plagued the Museveni government. They also say he offers Uganda the opportunity of a peaceful transfer of political power in a country that has not had one since independence from British colonial rule in 1962.
In addition to opposing family rule, his critics point out that Kainerugaba has behaved badly in recent years as the author of often-offensive tweets.
He has threatened to behead Bobi Wine, a presidential candidate who is the most prominent opposition figure in Uganda. He has said the opposition figure Kizza Besigye, jailed over alleged treason charges, should be hanged "in broad daylight” for allegedly plotting to kill Museveni. And he has appeared to confound even his father, who briefly removed him from his military duties in 2022 when Kainerugaba threatened on X to capture the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in two weeks.
Wine said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that Kainerugaba's army "has largely taken over the election.” Wine said his supporters are the victims of violence, including beatings, perpetrated by soldiers.
In its most recent dispatch ahead of voting, Amnesty International said the security forces were engaging in a “brutal campaign of repression.” It cited one event at a rally by Wine’s party, the National Unity Platform, in eastern Uganda on Nov. 28, when one man died after the military blocked an exit and open fired on the crowd.
It was not possible to get a comment from Kainerugaba, who rarely gives interviews.
Frank Gashumba, a Kainerugaba ally and vice chairman of the Patriotic League of Uganda, said Wine was exaggerating the threat against him. “Nobody is touching him,” he said. “He’s lacking the limelight.”
Only one senior member of the president’s party has publicly pushed back against hereditary rule.
Kahinda Otafiire, a retired major general who is among those who were by Museveni’s side when he first took power by force after a guerrilla war in 1986, has urged Kainerugaba to seek leadership on his own merits rather than as his father’s son.
“If you say so-and-so’s son should take over from the father, his son will also want to take over from his grandfather. Then there will be Sultan No. 1, Sultan No. 2, and then the whole essence of democracy, for which we fought, will be lost," Otafiire, who serves as Uganda's interior minister, told local broadcaster NBS last year.
"Let there be fair competition, including Gen. Muhoozi. Let him prove to Ugandans that he is capable, not as Museveni’s son but as he, Muhoozi, who is competent to manage the country.”
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FILE - Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, attends a "thanksgiving" ceremony in Entebbe, Uganda, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda, File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jauan Jennings hid his eyes behind sunglasses, but could not hide his emotions with the San Francisco 49ers set to play an NFC postseason rubber match in Seattle.
The 49ers wideout-turned-backup quarterback slammed his fists on the table and essentially told the Seahawks to bring it on. He leaned into the microphone and yelled, “CAN'T WAIT!” before he walked off with a knowing smile that perhaps the best in San Francisco was yet to come.
The 49ers are in for a playoff treat, thanks in large part to a pretty neat trick pulled off by Jennings.
Brock Purdy threw a go-ahead 6-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey late in the fourth quarter, San Francisco used a trick play on a TD toss from Jennings to McCaffrey, and the 49ers eliminated the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles with a 23-19 wild-card victory Sunday.
“We went to the Super Bowl,” Jennings said. “So, we’ve got to top that.”
Maybe if the Eagles watched that 49ers' Super Bowl loss to Kansas City after the 2023 season, they wouldn't have been so caught by surprise by the play. A former high school quarterback, Jennings threw a TD pass on a similar play in the Super Bowl and this one to McCaffrey put him on a list with Purdy, Joe Montana and Steve Young as 49ers QBs who have thrown for multiple career touchdowns in the postseason.
How's that for heady company?
The play was called “Skyy Bang reverse pass” — in honor of wide receiver Skyy Moore — and the double reverse was suggested by offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak.
“It was a hell of suggestion,” coach Kyle Shanahan said.
The not-so Philly special was quite a way to put a dagger in the Super Bowl champs' season.
The 49ers head to top-seeded Seattle next weekend for an NFC divisional playoff game. The NFC West rivals split the season series. BetMGM put the Seahawks as early 6 1/2-point favorites.
Purdy threw for 262 yards and got the road win in Philadelphia he failed to get three seasons ago when he was injured in a dismal outing in Philadelphia in a loss in the NFC title game.
Purdy had two passes intercepted in this one by All-Pro cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, but the Eagles scored just three points off the turnovers.
The 49ers could head to Seattle without star tight end George Kittle, who was carted off the field with a right Achilles tendon injury late in the first half.
The Eagles — who won a Super Bowl on a trick play — were foiled by one when Jennings was pitched the ball and rolled right and hit McCaffrey for an over-the-shoulder catch and a 29-yard touchdown. The score on the first play of the fourth quarter gave the 49ers a 17-16 lead.
“I looked up, the ball’s in the air and Christian tracked it," Purdy said. ”It was wobbling in the wind. The fact that Christian caught it over his shoulder, dude, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.'"
Jennings had 66 yards receiving and 48 rushing in addition to his TD pass.
“JJ thinks he can make every play known to man,” Shanahan said.
The Eagles would only get Jake Elliott's 33-yard field goal in the quarter for a brief 19-17 lead.
Philadelphia was again doomed by a lethargic offensive effort under embattled offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo that cost it a shot at a repeat championship. Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts threw for only 168 yards and a touchdown and the Eagles failed to build off a 13-10 halftime lead by totaling only 36 total yards in the third quarter on 16 plays.
Hurts was incomplete on a last-gasp fourth-and-11 attempt with 43 seconds left that ended their final drive.
“I just didn’t make the play,' Hurts said. ”I own it. I own it all.”
The game never reached its offensive slugfest potential after the teams traded touchdowns on their opening drives.
Purdy, rendered ineffective by a torn ligament in his right elbow on the opening drive against the Eagles in a disastrous NFC title game loss three seasons ago, completed all three passes for 74 yards and capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson.
The Eagles tied it on a 1-yard sweep by Dallas Goedert, their red zone go-to ace with 11 TD receptions who became the first tight end to rush for a score in NFL postseason history.
The Eagles turned again to Goedert on fourth down when Hurts hit him for a 9-yard TD that made it 13-7.
Eddy Pineiro kicked a 36-yarder for the 49ers that cut it to 13-10 at halftime.
The 49ers took it from there and hope to pull off their second road win of the season in Seattle.
“It’s just cool for everybody across the board to be able to have this kind of win and celebrate all the stuff that we’ve been through,” Purdy said.
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had to be separated from coach Nick Sirianni by chief security officer Dom DiSandro during a sideline blowup late in the first half. Brown ripped off his helmet in frustration and yelled more in Sirianni’s direction after the Eagles punted to end a drive.
Kittle was pushed out of bounds on a 6-yard reception and grabbed the back of his lower right leg. He was ruled out for the rest of the game.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley ran for 106 yards, but was slow to get up on a run in the fourth quarter. He used the stationary bike on the sideline to stay loose.
49ers: The 49ers won 17-13 in Seattle in the season opener only for the Seahawks to return the favor with a 13-3 win in the season finale.
Eagles: Could make yet another change at offensive coordinator as they try not to waste more prime years from Hurts, Barkley and the receivers.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey leaves the field after an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) reacts to a touchdown pass to 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter (98) tries to stop San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell (27) intercepts a pass intended for San Francisco 49ers tight end Jake Tonges (88) during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) reacts to a touchdown pass to 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) is unable to make the catch as San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (2) defends during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) reacts to a touchdown pass to 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
