General Muhoozi Kainerugaba Receives African Continental Person of the Year Award in Ghana

The African Leadership Organisation has honoured the Chief of Defence Forces – UPDF and Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations General Muhoozi Kainerugaba with the Special African leadership Award for Defence and National Security Excellence at the 15th African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards ceremony on Saturday evening in Accra, Ghana.

The event was held at the 5-star Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in the Ghanaian metropolis from 27 – 28 February 2026 under the theme “Leadership for a New Africa: Forging Our Peace, Owning our Narrative”.

Dr. Ken Giami, the London-based Nigerian founder and executive chairman of the African Leadership Organisation described General Muhoozi Kainerugaba as a “rising and shining star of Africa”, explaining that the award was in recognition of the General’s distinguished service, military reforms, and strategic contributions to Uganda’s national and regional security over the past two decades. He added that as a long serving commander of the UPDF, including earlier tenures as the commander of the special operations forces and commander land forces, General Kainerugaba strengthened Uganda’s counterterrorism capacity, professionalised elite military units, and enhanced regional security cooperation frameworks.

General Kainerugaba was particulaly cited for his significant role in pacifying Somalia under the almost 20-year African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which transitioned to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), and presently, the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM). General Kainerugaba was further credited for his efforts to secure peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo under Operation Shujaa, and in South Sudan where the UPDF has been active, first in 2013 and recently in 2024 when the UPDF deployed to secure Juba, potentially averting a major humanitarian catastrophe had major hostilities broken out between warring parties. For years, the population in Juba and other parts of the restive country have been living on the edge, fearing a major outbreak of violence between the SPLM government forces and armed opposition groups allied to Vice President Riek Machar and other militant leaders in the country.

The UPDF deployments in the country have been widely viewed as a stabilising influence while political dialogue and the search for peaceful solutions to conflict remain underway among the contending political actors in South Sudan.

“Your role as CDF and Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations has cemented your legacy in Uganda’s security architecture, contributing to operational modernisation, improved national and regional security, and robust defence diplomacy across the East African region,” said Dr. Giami.

General Muhoozi Kainerugaba was represented at the Awards Ceremony in Ghana by the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs and UPDF Director Defence Public Information, Colonel Chris Magezi.
In his acceptance speech read for him by Colonel Magezi, General Kainerugaba said he was deeply honoured and motivated by the award, especially so coming from eminent personalities from across the continent driven by a pan-African vision and agenda through service and leadership.

“As pan-Africanists, we should continue to strengthen cooperation across different fields on the continent including in the political, economic, social, and security realms. This will enable us to fight and defend Africa and all the black people of the world more effectively,” said General Kainerugaba.

Other prominent winners at the colourful event were Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama who scooped the African of the Year Award, Namibian President Netumbo nandi-Ndaitwah earned the distinction of African Political Leader of the Year Award, the Prime Minister of Lesotho Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane who won the African Inspirational Leader of the Year Award, while the Angolan Vice President Esperanca Maria Eduardo Francisco da Costa was voted the African Leader of the Year. Other winners included Makerere University Vice Chancellor who was accorded the African Educationist of the Year, the Sierra Leone Finance Minister was honoured as the African Government Minister of the Year, while Ms. Esperence Luvindao, Minister of Health Namibia shone as African Public Health Champion of the Year, among many other accolades. Retired Ghana statesman President Nana Akufo-Addo in attendance was honoured for the African Legacy Leader Award.

The African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year Awards Ceremony is a flagship annual event hosted by African Leadership Magazine for the past 14 years, bringing together policy makers, private sector leaders, thought leaders, and stakeholders from across Africa and the world to celebrate people-centred leadership and Africans driving a pan African agenda.

The event has become a prestigious platform for honouring and celebrating Africans pursuing a pan-African vision through service and leadership.

The 2026 event in Accra was attended by over 400 delegates, including the Prime Minister of Lesotho, HE Samuel Matekane, Ghanaian Attorney General and Justice Minister Hon Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, the Speaker of Parliament of Ghana, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the President National assembly of Cape Verde, HE Hon. Austelino Tavares Correia, HE Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania and currently Board Chair, global advisory council of the African Leadership Organisation. Other members of the board that attended the event included HE Jewel Howard Taylor, former Vice President of Liberia, Dr. Christian Lindfeld, founder and managing Director, Africa Ventures Advisory, Germany; General Kip Ward, former commander, United States Africa Command (AFRICOM); and Dr. Victor Oladokun, media consultant and communications advisor to the President, African Development Bank Group.

Past winners of the African Persons of the Year Awards include HE Bassirou Faye, President of Senegal; HE Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone; HE Lazarus Chakwera, former President of Malawi; HE Nana Akufo-Addo, former President of Ghana; HE Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, former President of Tanzania; HE Goodluck Jonathan, former President of Nigeria; Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organisation; and Mo Ibrahim, founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.