RWABWOGO FIRES BACK: PACEID Boss Defies Gen Muhoozi Arrest Threats, Says CDF Has No Power to Shut Down Presidential Agency, Says Only President Museveni Can Shut It

The increasingly bitter public clash between Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba and his brother-in-law, Odrek Rwabwogo, has entered a new and potentially more consequential phase, with the latter openly challenging the army chief’s authority to suspend or close the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID).

In a strongly worded response, Rwabwogo has rejected what he described as attempts to convict suspects through social media, while insisting that PACEID remains a lawful and operational presidential institution.

His intervention came after Gen Muhoozi declared PACEID an “illegal organisation”, threatened arrests of its members over alleged corruption and warned radio and television stations against hosting its officials.

The confrontation intensified further with the reported arrest of Matthew Bagonza, a senior PACEID official and close aide to Rwabwogo. Gen Muhoozi subsequently confirmed Bagonza’s arrest and publicly commented on his detention.

But instead of retreating, Rwabwogo has come out fighting. “If there is a case on anyone, let it be brought before a competent court and tried fairly and impartially,” Rwabwogo said.

“Both the arrest and the treatment of a presumed offender should follow the law, be humane not humiliating and give the constitution, the people and God the dignity and humanness one deserves. Let the evidence be tested.”

He added: “Matthew Bagonza can defend himself and the institution he works for. And let the law take its course.”

Rwabwogo challenges Muhoozi’s authority

The strongest part of Rwabwogo’s response was his rejection of the suggestion that PACEID could simply be shut down by a social-media declaration.

“On the second matter, I want to be equally clear. PACEID is operational and PACEID is lawful and reports to H.E. the President and all our quarterly and annual reports are consistent on what we have achieved and the ideas we have brought forward for our country, its entrepreneurs and exports sector,” he said.

Rwabwogo pointed to March 16, 2022, when President Yoweri Museveni commissioned PACEID.

“We were commissioned on 16 March 2022. Institutions begin through a process and, if a mandate is ever changed, that too must happen through a due process. An anonymous message on social media is not that process,” he said.

PACEID’s own profile says it was commissioned by President Museveni on March 16, 2022, as a think tank advising him on strategic and systemic interventions aimed at accelerating export growth and industrial development.

The Government Communication and Information Centre also records Museveni commissioning the committee at State Lodge, Nakasero, with the stated purpose of building consensus among government institutions, the private sector, exporters, producers and technical officials around increasing Uganda’s exports.

Rwabwogo therefore appears to be drawing a line between the authority of the CDF and the legal or administrative process through which a presidential institution can be altered or dissolved.

He concluded his statement by reassuring PACEID’s international partners. “We encourage all International partners, those who hold export orders, our global trade representatives in several countries, our logistics partners, those financing value chains in the 13 products, to have peace and keep all due activities as usual,” he said.

Muhoozi’s crackdown

The latest confrontation began when Gen Muhoozi announced that PACEID was illegal and that arrests would begin immediately.

“PACEID is an illegal organisation. We shall start arresting its members immediately,” Muhoozi wrote. In another post, he said: “We are going to arrest ALL the members of PACEID involved in corruption.”

He also warned media organisations against giving PACEID officials airtime, saying radio and television stations that hosted members of what he described as the outlawed institution would face “severe consequences.”

The threats were followed by the reported arrest of Bagonza, who heads the PACEID secretariat and has worked closely with Rwabwogo. Muhoozi later shared Bagonza’s photograph on X and confirmed that he had been arrested.

Muhoozi has also said that President Museveni instructed him to pursue people allegedly involved in criminal activity within PACEID. However, Rwabwogo subsequently said that when he sought clarification from Museveni, the President told him he had neither known about nor ordered Bagonza’s arrest.

That claim introduces another dramatic dimension into the dispute: whether the crackdown represents a formally authorised government action or a security intervention being driven independently.

A feud that refuses to die

The current confrontation is not the first time Muhoozi and Rwabwogo have publicly clashed. The relationship between the two men has been under intense scrutiny because Rwabwogo is married to Patience Kokundeka Museveni Rwabwogo, President Museveni’s daughter and Muhoozi’s younger sister. Their differences burst into the open in August 2024 when Muhoozi publicly described Rwabwogo as “the biggest thief in Uganda”in a post questioning why Museveni was photographed with him.

The attack came amid Muhoozi’s anger over the arrest of his political ally, Michael Mawanda, in a corruption case. Rwabwogo responded without directly naming Muhoozi, accusing his attackers of spreading lies designed to divert attention from his work.

“I ask that you leave us out of this shallowness because we don’t have time to abandon what matters for our country to engage in that which seeks to destroy all of us as a country,” Rwabwogo said at the time.

He also denied an audio recording allegedly containing insulting remarks directed at Muhoozi, saying the voice was not his.

The 2024 confrontation was significant because it transformed what had previously been discussed largely as an internal family and political disagreement into an open public feud.

The PLU factor

The latest dispute has also drawn in supporters of Muhoozi’s Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), including Kasambya County MP Daudi Kabanda.

Kabanda mocked Rwabwogo’s appeal for due process, suggesting that the PACEID chairman was now experiencing the same treatment ordinary Ugandans have complained about.

“Now that Rwabwogo is also crying for help in the media like any of us, now those who have been shouting leave First Family matters know the members of the first family,” Kabanda wrote.

“Stop fearing Scarecrows (Waringa) we are all variables. If Rwabwogo and I are BAKOPI, Rwabwogo is a pro max.”

Kabanda nevertheless appealed to Muhoozi to forgive Bagonza. “Afande just forgive Bagonza, he is a loyal cadre who was misled,” he said.

His intervention reflects the increasingly political character of the confrontation, with the PACEID dispute becoming intertwined with the contest of influence surrounding Muhoozi and PLU. Isaac N. Mpanga also weighed into the debate with a pointed political analogy.

“Karl Max’s theory of dialectical materialism presupposes that for every antagonistic force there is a protagonist force and a constant struggle to overthrow each other until the perfect utopian socialist society is attained,” Mpanga wrote.

“Who knew where opposition to PLU would come from!?” The remark was widely interpreted as a reference to the growing tension between Rwabwogo and the Muhoozi-led political camp.

Ofwono Opondo raises the bigger question

Former government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo offered a different perspective, focusing not so much on the merits of the PACEID controversy but on the access enjoyed by members of the First Family.

“My brother Odrek Rwabwogo is very lucky and privileged to have immediate direct access to President Museveni,” Ofwono wrote. “Now pity those without! How do they get heard or attended to. SAD.”

His observation highlights one of the central questions raised by the confrontation: if a powerful presidential adviser and member of the First Family can struggle to have his side heard, what happens to ordinary Ugandans caught in similar disputes with security agencies?

Calls for accountability

Not everyone responding to Rwabwogo’s statement has simply endorsed him.

Atukunda Isaac thanked Rwabwogo for speaking out about the rights of suspects but challenged him to address questions surrounding PACEID itself.

“Thank you Mr. @OdrekRwabwogo for adding your voice in demanding for respect of criminal suspects’ Human Rights,” Atukunda wrote. “I wish you could always do it for all suspects irrespective of who they are!”

He then demanded clarification on the corruption allegations against PACEID and questioned whether they could be politically motivated.

Atukunda also raised an institutional question: whether PACEID duplicates the work of the Uganda Free Zones and Export Promotion Authority and whether the two entities should be merged to reduce public expenditure.

Another commentator, Tiina Nyenstya, agreed with Rwabwogo on due process but warned that PACEID should not use legality as a shield against public scrutiny.

“Public institutions and publicly funded programmes are legitimate subjects of public scrutiny,” she argued, adding that being operational and reporting to the President should not place an institution “beyond accountability.”

She urged PACEID to publish its mandate, reports, results and legal framework so that the public could assess its performance.

Muhoozi misses Patience’s big day

The renewed family tension has also cast a shadow over a major event in the Museveni family.

On Sunday, August 23, Patience Rwabwogo was consecrated as an Episcopal Bishop of Covenant Nations Church during celebrations marking 20 years since the establishment of her ministry. The ceremony at Covenant Hill in Maya brought together senior Christian leaders, government officials, family members and international religious figures.

Patience became the first woman to be ordained as a bishop in Uganda, according to the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. President Museveni attended and congratulated his daughter, while First Lady Janet Museveni celebrated the milestone and spoke of Patience’s two decades of ministry.

But conspicuously absent from the ceremony was Muhoozi. His absence raised eyebrows because the event was not merely a religious function but a major family occasion involving his sister.

The absence became particularly striking given that Muhoozi subsequently congratulated Patience publicly, joking that he could “NEVER be a priest” because he loves “the other things of women too much.”

His decision not to attend, coming amid the continuing tensions with Rwabwogo, inevitably fed speculation about the state of relations within the family.

There is, however, no public evidence establishing that Muhoozi’s absence was caused by the dispute with Rwabwogo. What is clear is that the timing has made the absence politically and symbolically significant.

A battle bigger than PACEID?

PACEID’s defence is now becoming a test of institutional authority, presidential administration and the limits of security power.

For Rwabwogo, the argument is straightforward: if officials are accused of wrongdoing, they should be investigated, arrested were justified and tried in accordance with the law. But an institution commissioned by the President cannot, in his view, be dissolved through a social-media post.

For Muhoozi and his supporters, however, the issue is increasingly being framed around accountability and alleged corruption.

The danger is that the dispute could continue to move beyond the personalities of two brothers-in-law and become a broader contest over who has the authority to speak for the President, who controls political influence around the First Family and how far security institutions can intervene in civilian administrative structures.

For now, Rwabwogo has chosen confrontation rather than retreat. His message is that PACEID remains open, its mandate remains intact and its work should continue. “Let the evidence be tested,” he said.

And with those words, the latest chapter in the Muhoozi-Rwabwogo feud appears far from over.