European Union shreds Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s ‘blogger’ for fake news
On February 8, 2024, renowned Ugandan blogger Mwesigye Frank, a close ally of General Muhoozi Kainerugaba – President Yoweri Museveni’s son – posted a letter online in which he claimed was confidential communication between the European Union in Uganda and Kakwenza Rukitabashaija, an exiled Germany based Ugandan writer and activist.
In the alleged letter first published by Mr Mwesigye, who consistently posts photos on his socials hanging out with Muhoozi, the EU in Uganda allegedly wanted Mr Kakwenza to use his social media platforms to promote the queer and political agendas “in respect for the mutual agreement as agreed upon in the asylum agreement.”
The EU in Uganda allegedly told the writer to keep their agreement confidential “for respect of country’s sovereignty and mutual respect between European Union and Uganda”.
It must be noted that homosexuality was recently outlawed in Uganda with those found being members of this community and participating in homosexual acts facing harsh consequences including imprisonment.
Following the publication of the letter by Mr Mwesigye, the European Union in Uganda clapped back at him, reposting the letter and terming it as fake news. The EU in Uganda also marked the letter using red fonts- pointing out his typos, factual and punctuation mistakes, and fallacies in the letter. Ultimately, the EU in Uganda gave Mr Mwesigye an F- (minus), telling him, “You can do better than this!”
In the marked fake newsletter, the EU in Uganda noted the following:
- Mr Mwesigye had inaccurately used the term High Commission in his address ‘from the Union’ to the writer, correcting him that the term was specifically used for diplomatic missions.
- The fake letter was signed off by a European Union Human Rights Commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic. However, the EU in Uganda claimed the position does not exist and Ms Dunja serves as the Commissioner of Human Rights for the Council of Europe- a different body from the European Union.
- The EU in Uganda also pointed out that the formatting of the letter was wrong compared to what it sent out. This was about the lack of letterhead, wrong addressing, and wrong positioning of those copied in the letter.
Ultimately, the European Union in Uganda told Mr Mwesigye of their reason for republishing his fake letter on X, the platform on which he spread the fake news.
“Dear Mr. Mwesigye Franks
We trust you will understand our decision to address you without the use of self-attributed titles. Below, please find our response to the #disinformation you have spread through this forgery. Best regards,” said the EU in Uganda in their caption.
“It’s a sheep like you who can write such and credit to me,” Kakwenza trolled Mwesigye after the EU in Uganda rebuffed his fake news.
According to the Daily Monitor, Mwesigye and Kakwenza have been trading barbs and trolling each other on social media for a while. Their differences stem from opposing political views including Museveni’s presidency and Muhoozi’s political future. Muhoozi has presidential aspirations as well.
Mwesigye regularly posts messages supporting Muhoozi’s presidential candidate on his X handle. He is also known to hit out at all Muhoozi’s detractors at times in a not so diplomatic manner.
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