By CHANGE OF GUARDS
Kyanda was born in 1970. It is unclear when Gen. Leopold Kyanda joined Museveni’s army. However, Kyanda attended the Officer Cadet course at Jinja around the late 1980s. In 1994, he joined Museveni’s elite Presidential Guard Brigade (PGB). He went on to rapidly rise to the position of Commander of the PGB. One of his then subordinate commanders under the PGB was Museveni’s son, now Gen. Muhoozi. Kyanda went on to become the Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI). Around 2008, during Kyanda’s tenure as CMI, he was implicated in an illicit drug trafficking scandal. After learning that the police was closing in, he allegedly deployed his Aide, Lt. Bob Drani to storm the DHL offices and grab a parcel containing illicit drugs. Kyanda allegedly went ahead to order his release by the Police Special Investigations Unit on the pretext that he was scheduled to travel abroad for state operations. As usual, the matter was swept under the carpet.
Kyanda allegedly conspired to defraud a Polish Company of US $ 500,000 in a fake defense contract. As the then Chief of Staff of the Land Forces at Bombo army headquarters, he allegedly facilitated the fraudulent meeting of Polish investors in the army boardroom adjacent to his office. Police investors representing BMP Poland SP 200 were yet to sign fake defense contracts to supply assortments of classified military equipment worth Euros 12M. Upon a down payment of Euros 500,000 for purported processing of paperwork. The fraudsters simply switched off their phones. Museveni assigned the then Deputy CMI, Col. Herbert Mbonye to investigate the matter. A detailed investigation report allegedly implicated Gen. Kyanda was submitted to Museveni.
That marked the end of the matter as Leopold Kyanda was simply sent to Washington DC as the Military Attache while Herbert Mbonye was dumped to Spain as the Military Attache. Two years later, Kyanda was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and appointed Chief Of Personnel and Administration (CPA). He went on to attend the National Defense College in India before he was promoted to the rank of Maj. Gen in 2019. He went on to become the Joint Chief of Staff (JCOS) in 2021 and remained so until last month when he was re-assigned as a Military Attache to a yet to be known country. This assignment comes at a time when Museveni’s son, Gen. Muhoozi is assuming the overall command of the army. The position of Joint Chief of Staff (JCOS) plays a pivotal role in coordinating the three branches of the army. Under normal circumstances, as COS, Gen. Kyanda would best serve the new army chief, Gen. Muhoozi. This move creates an impression that Museveni is aware that the two Generals don’t relate well.
To better understand the logic behind this development, one needs to acknowledge that other than speculation that Kyanda is a brother to Gen. Mugisha Muntu’s wife, not much is known about Kyanda. Beyond military service, information about his ancestral home area, family background, formal education etc. is very scanty. Further, one needs to interrogate why Museveni has always turned a blind eye on General Kyanda’s alleged unbecoming conduct.
INFORMATION IS POWER AND THE PROBLEM OF UGANDA IS MUSEVENISM
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