“We Will Build One Million Homes for Ugandans Using Money Stolen by Corrupt Officials” – Muhoozi

Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces and son of President Yoweri Museveni, has proposed a sweeping urban renewal plan for Kampala’s slums, saying the government should build decent housing and proper infrastructure for residents using money recovered from corrupt officials.

In a series of posts on X on Sunday, Muhoozi named some of Kampala’s most congested and historically neglected neighbourhoods as priority areas, including Katanga, Kikoni, Kimumbasa, Mulago, Bwaise, Katwe, Kikuba Mutwe, Naguru and Kasokoso.

“Kampala’s slums need an urban renewal plan. We can build decent housing and infrastructure for bonafide inhabitants of the capital city. We would use the money we save from thieves,” he wrote.

He went further to argue that access to good housing is not a privilege but a right. “Ugandans have the right to good housing and infrastructure. That is their birthright,” he added.

Muhoozi, who leads the political pressure group Patriotic League of Uganda, also framed the proposal as official party policy, writing that their position is “Good Housing for all,” or in Luganda, “Bonna bayina okubeera n’amayumba amarungi.”

He pointed to South Africa as a model worth learning from, noting that the African National Congress had built 3.3 million housing units for disadvantaged township dwellers since 1994. He said Uganda should target at least one million housing units within ten years.

The posts drew immediate reactions online, with several supporters proposing that the UPDF Engineering Brigade be deployed to spearhead construction, and calling for public-private partnerships to bridge the country’s growing housing deficit without uprooting existing residents from their communities.

Uganda’s urban housing crisis has long been a sore point, with hundreds of thousands of city dwellers living in overcrowded settlements with limited access to clean water, sanitation and reliable roads. Previous government attempts at slum upgrading have often stalled or sparked controversy over land evictions.

Muhoozi did not outline a specific budget, timeline or implementing agency for the proposal, but said the funding would come from savings made through anti-corruption efforts, a claim that is likely to invite scrutiny given the country’s long struggle with graft in public institutions.