Uganda has withdrawn from the Invictus Games after Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba announced the reversal on Wednesday, pulling the country out of an event it had only recently been set to join. The army chief said Uganda would not take part in anything that did not have King Charles III’s approval.
The announcement matters now because Uganda had been presented two months ago as the 26th country to enter the multisport event for wounded service personnel, making this a sharp turn rather than a routine adjustment. Kainerugaba made the decision public on X, which is also where many of his most provocative political messages have appeared before.
At that earlier event in London, Kiryowa Kiwanuka stood alongside Harry and praised Yoweri Museveni for his “visionary leadership” and Gen Kainerugaba for “championing our team’s entry.” That public welcome now sits in direct contrast with the withdrawal, which the army chief tied to respect for the monarch and to his own view that Uganda should not be seen as opposing His Majesty.
He also told The Times that he had factions inside the Ministry of Defence backing “that Harry-Meghan nonsense” and said he had moved quickly to shut it down. In the same remarks, Kainerugaba said he supported the monarch, a line that leaves little doubt about the politics driving the announcement even as the formal reason was framed as deference to King Charles III.
The friction is hard to miss. Richard Benyon issued a letter on Monday at King Charles III’s behest clarifying that Harry and Meghan were no longer working members of the royal family, and that their charitable work was a private matter. Against that backdrop, Uganda’s retreat looks less like a procedural pause than a public alignment with the palace’s position and a rebuke to the Sussexes’ role in the event.
The open question is whether the withdrawal is final. Alan Kasujja told the that Gen Kainerugaba decides whether the UPDF participates in the Invictus Games and that, if his position changes, he will let the world know. For now, Uganda is out, and the country’s planned debut at the event has been undone by one post from the man who controls the decision.
