March 7, 2010: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has appointed his son, lieutenant colonel Keinerugaba Muhoozi, as head of the Presidential Guard brigade. This unit is actually the president's private army, with over 10,000 carefully selected, well paid and heavily armed troops. Muhoozi is currently commanding the Special Forces, which comprises several thousand commando and counter-terror troops. In effect, the Presidential Guard has become part of the Special Forces. Thus Muhoozi will have command of about a third of the armed forces, and the best paid and equipped third at that.

Muhoozi is believed being groomed to take over from his father, who has run the country for 24 years. Uganda is a democracy, but Museveni has tightly controlled who can run for office, and how elections are run. In effect, Uganda is a one party state, with Museveni tightly controlling the ruling party. Getting reelected has never been a problem. Apparently daddy thinks his son has a shot of continuing the family business, and having a large force of heavily armed men behind him is expected to overcome any unforeseen obstacles.