State Minister for Public Service Lydia Wanyoto reportedly raised questions about endorsements for Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba during a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Yoweri Museveni on September 28, 2026, as political mobilisation around the 2031 succession continues.
According to accounts circulating after the meeting, Wanyoto questioned how Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) members could endorse Kainerugaba for the presidency while also affirming their loyalty to Museveni.
The exchange reportedly ended with Museveni telling Wanyoto to sit down.
The details of the Cabinet exchange have not been independently confirmed through an official statement from State House or Cabinet. The reported incident has, however, generated debate online, particularly among supporters of Kainerugaba.
Wanyoto is a member of the 2026–2031 Cabinet, serving as Minister of State for Public Service. She is also listed as Patriotic Officer No. 066 by the PLU. State House Uganda
The reported confrontation comes amid an increasingly visible PLU mobilisation around Kainerugaba, who is the Chief of Defence Forces and chairperson of the PLU.
The group has in recent weeks organised endorsements for Kainerugaba ahead of the 2031 presidential election. PLU Secretary General Fadil Twala said in September that endorsement books had been distributed through the group’s structures across the country. Monitor
Several prominent Ugandans have subsequently been assigned Patriotic Officer numbers by the organisation, including businessman Sudhir Ruparelia, businessman Godfrey Kirumira and former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya. Monitor
The PLU’s mobilisation has also produced disagreements with officials associated with Museveni’s political machinery.
On September 27, an Office of the National Chairman team in Bugisu publicly endorsed Museveni for leadership beyond 2031 during World Tourism Day celebrations in Mbale. The endorsement drew criticism from PLU leaders, who said Kainerugaba was expected to be their candidate in 2031. Pulse Uganda
The competing endorsements have brought the question of political succession into increasingly public view, despite Museveni remaining the head of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Kainerugaba, Museveni’s son, currently serves as Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces. His political supporters have repeatedly linked his PLU activities to a future presidential bid, while PLU leaders have maintained that the organisation’s formal political campaign would depend on his departure from the military.
The reported Cabinet exchange therefore comes against a backdrop of two parallel messages: continued public declarations of loyalty to Museveni and growing mobilisation around Kainerugaba’s prospective 2031 candidacy.
For now, neither Museveni nor Wanyoto has publicly provided an official account of the reported Cabinet exchange.
