By Aggrey Baba
A group of former fighters who battled Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in Teso have thrown their weight behind Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s 2031 presidential bid, citing his role in the military operations that eventually broke the rebel Kony’s grip on the region.
The endorsement was delivered on Monday as the former fighters, led by Musa Ecweru, former State Minister for Works and Transport in charge of Works and former MP for Amuria County, paid a visit to the office of the Chairman of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), headed by Kasambya County MP Daudi Kabanda.
The meeting comes approximately a week after PLU publicly declared Gen Kainerugaba’s intention to contest for presidency in 2031, bringing his long-discussed succession ambitions into the open.
On August 25, 2026, Gen Muhoozi had, through a tweet announced that he would “stand for the highest office in the land in 2031,” declaring confidence that he would win the election. The following day, August 26, he tweeted and said he expected to secure 90% of the vote with the support of his father, President Yoweri Museveni.
Ecweru, who was at the time of the LRA invasion a Resident District Commissioner (RDC) in Kasese, recalled how he abandoned his job in 2003 after the Kony invaded Teso on June 15 of that year and returned to mobilize local resistance.
He said the mobilization eventually gave birth to the Arrow Boys, a local force that worked alongside the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) against Kony’s men.
According to Ecweru, the Arrow Boys eventually numbered 9,014 fighters.
Standing alongside several former commanders, Ecweru said their decision to endorse Muhoozi was rooted in the experiences they shared with him during the insurgency, recalling that Muhoozi, then a Major by rank, chose to leave the safety of Kampala and deploy to Teso, where he participated directly in operations against the LRA.
“MK was a major at that time. He could have opted to command from Kampala, but he decided to come to Teso,” Ecweru said, stressing that Gen. MK went to the frontline.
Ecweru said the former fighters regarded Muhoozi as a “comrade” because of the difficult circumstances under which they worked together in Teso.
He further linked Muhoozi’s military presence in the region to decisive battles that weakened the LRA.
One of the former commanders present, Ecweru said, participated in the fierce battle at Apopong, where he claimed 32 LRA commanders were killed.
“MK to us represents peace. MK to us represents development. And now MK has also added the war against corruption,” he said, further adding that the former fighters were prepared to replicate their mobilization experience, this time without guns, by moving through villages to mobilize support for Muhoozi’s 2031 presidential bid.
“We are now going to comb the villages, this time peacefully,” Ecweru said, referring to the campaign to secure signatures endorsing MK.
Kabanda, who heads the office of the PLU chairman, welcomed Ecweru and the former fighters, describing them as people with an important historical connection to Gen Muhoozi.
He particularly praised Ecweru for returning to Teso when the region was under attack, saying his decision demonstrated patriotism and commitment to his people.
Kabanda also used the occasion to push back against the argument that President Museveni was seeking to impose his son on Ugandans, saying the endorsement campaign was intended to demonstrate that support for Muhoozi was coming from Ugandans rather than being imposed his father.
The PLU chairman’s office has set an ambitious target of collecting 20 million signatures in support of Muhoozi’s 2031 bid, with organizers saying they want overwhelming support for the first son.
The PLU launched its nationwide signature collection drive on September 1, targeting all 146 districts.
Kabanda said Teso had already demonstrated its support for Muhoozi during his previous visits to the region, recalling, according yo him, huge crowds that welcomed him (MK) in Soroti when the General visited Teso in the early days of the MK Movement.
Ecweru said they had stood with Muhoozi during the fight against the LRA and were now prepared to stand with him a peaceful struggle for Uganda’s continued peace, development and transformation.
“We have come to endorse peace. We have come to endorse continuity. We have come to endorse development, and we have come to endorse a war against corruption,” Ecweru said.
The former Arrow Boys now want to turn their wartime networks into a political mobilization machine for the 2031 project, nearly a quarter of a century after they joined the fight that helped push Kony’s forces out of their region. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
