KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni marked his 82nd birthday on Tuesday, 15 September, with a wave of birthday messages from his family, government figures and well-wishers across East Africa celebrating both the personal milestone and his more than four decades in Uganda’s political life.
First Lady Janet Museveni led the tributes with a personal message reflecting on the year gone by. “It is amazing that another year has gone by. We give praise and honour to God for His loving kindness, mercy and grace.
He has walked with us, and we are at the beginning of another year! It is hard to believe that you are 82!” she wrote, adding: “2026 has been a year unlike other years, and therefore we have even more reasons to give thanks to God for the blessing of life.”
The couple’s daughter, Natasha Museveni Karugire, described her father as the “greatest father, leader, man” in her own tribute, combining personal affection with recognition of his public role.
His son, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, also marked the occasion publicly. “Let me be the first to congratulate the greatest black man that God ever created on his 82nd birthday. Hongera Mzee wa Kazi. May you have many more,” Gen Muhoozi wrote.
Well-wishes extended into neighbouring Kenya. Former Starehe MP and musician Charles Njagua, popularly known as Jaguar, joined the celebrations ahead of the occasion during a visit to his Nairobi home by social media personality Cassypool, telling Museveni: “Happy birthday, President Yoweri Museveni. We wish you all the best and that you continue leading Uganda.”
This year’s birthday falls at a significant point in Museveni’s long political career. He was sworn in for a seventh presidential term in May, after winning Uganda’s January 2026 general election, extending a presidency that now stretches into its fifth decade.
Kampala Dispatch reported that Museveni secured around 72 percent of the vote, with his main challenger, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, taking roughly 24 percent.
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Museveni first became president in January 1986, after leading the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and its armed wing, the National Resistance Army (NRA), through a five-year armed struggle against previous regimes.
According to Uganda’s State House, he launched the movement after going into the bush with 26 other young men.
Museveni’s birthdays have, in recent years, taken on political as well as personal significance, with previous milestone celebrations, including his 80th birthday in 2022, doubling as occasions for reflection on his legacy and Uganda’s political trajectory.
This year’s tributes, spanning family members, political allies and admirers beyond Uganda’s borders, reflect both the personal warmth extended to Museveni on the occasion and the broader political weight his continued leadership carries as he begins his seventh term at the head of the country.
