Muhoozi birthday: For those who didn't attend [Pulse Editor’s Opinion]

His arrival had not been announced on the large PA system, so it spread through whispers, like a wildfire, starting with those that were closest to the point of entry to the rest of the people scattered all over the venue.

When enough people had caught a glimpse of the man, they started screaming; the kind of scream they accord to huge celebrities. You’d be right on the money if you guessed that this was probably the first time a crowd of regular people was screaming for the first son, owing to the fact that his upbringing has shielded him from the general public pretty much all his life.

But here he was, sauntering about, waving and greeting people that would never be in a one-kilometer radius with the president’s son if it wasn’t for this curious public birthday party.

A man at the very center of the power structure in this country is quite inaccessible to the kind of urban youth that were fighting for free sodas and pilau at the party. But here they were, waving at him, pretty much in awe of his sheer power.

It was conceivable that for the first time, the probable future leader of this country was inviting the common man to get familiar with him. If anything, the seed has been planted.

The same tactic of familiarization has been employed on Twitter and it has worked wonders. The tone of tweeting that we have seen from Muhoozi over the last few years, the rough, almost playful, provocative way of speech that he portrays on his Twitter handle, all that could easily be designed to familiarize the larger-than-life person of the first son to the general public for future political capital.

Muhoozi Pulse

Muhoozi is breaking down the wall between him and the public. You may not like how he’s doing it, but it is happening.

The party was poorly attended considering that it was free entrance, free food and free entertainment from the best that Uganda has to offer, because of the wall mentioned above, and also considering the political environment in the country. It probably will be very different next year and in two years’ time when he makes 50.

As soon as the General was done waving at the people, the main event started with prayers from both Christian and Moslem leaders after which the national anthem, the EAC anthem and Buganda anthem were sung. This was no ordinary birthday party going by how seriously the organizers took it.

While the real birthday party takes place today at Statehouse, the one at Lugogo was a national event though it was not called so. It targeted the common man, the kind of people that would never get to go to Statehouse for the real party. You should have seen the toys around the venue to realize how serious this was. It was a probable glimpse of the future as Museveni turns his last corner in public life.

If the Muhoozi project is real, Saturday’s birthday party was the mainstreaming of the Muhoozi Project.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Pulse as its publisher.