Secrets Why Brig. Kyanda Was Fired Leak

---

A few years after Gen. Aronda Nyakairima was appointed as the chief of defence forces, then Col. Leopold Kyanda went to State lodge, Nakasero to meet President Yoweri Museveni.

After saluting the president, Kyanda turned emotional and told the president that he had unearthed an assassination attempt against his (Kyanda) life. He claimed that a tea girl very close to Aronda had put a dosage of poison in his tea.

Kyanda further claimed that he became suspicious when his African tea served to him started changing colours.

He claimed to have taken it to a chemist who claimed that it was poisoned.

Characteristic of Museveni, he listened to Kyanda as he narrated his ordeal. He thus promised Kyanda that he would investigate the matter.

As Museveni’s investigations where still on course, a query emerged in which Kyanda was allegedly linked to a mineral scandal.

Kyanda denied an involvement in it but the president seemed unconvinced. Museveni actually told a subsequent meeting that maybe Kyanda alleged that Aronda was plotting to assassinate him in order to cover up the alleged mineral scandal.

Months after, Museveni sacked Kyanda from the leadership of CMI and replaced him with Brig. James Mugira.

Following his sacking, the filthy rich foreign minister, Sam Kutesa, proposed that Kyanda be appointed Uganda’s military attaché to Washington and Canada.

Such suggestion was accepted by the president as one way of rehabilitating him. His transfer caused a bad blood between Kyanda on one hand, and Mugira and Aronda on the other.

While in Washington, Kyanda devised means of rehabilitating himself.

The first thing he did was to become a born again Christian just like most members of the first family. His first pastor was his in law Andrew Rugasira who would meet him in Washington when he (Rugasira) went there to plot his tea.

His other relative, Maj. Gen. (rtd) Mugisha Muntu would also preach to him the Word of God.

When Museveni received reports that Kyanda was a changed man, he recalled him from Washington.

On the recommendation of Maj. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Kyanda was appointed the chief of personnel and administration in UPDF.

He earned a fast promotion to become the chief of staff of Land forces in the subsequent army reshuffle.

While holding that position, his working relations with the chief of defense forces, Gen. Katumba Wamala and his deputy, Charles Angina was not all that good.

Katumba always complained that Kyanda was not performing well especially when Uganda would be required to deploy peace keeping forces in Somalia.

At the time, some soldiers were complained that there were cases of favoritism as those friendly to top army officers would be included on the list in order to earn the many dollars offered in Somalia.

Katumba was also complaining that Kyanda was likely to suffer conflict of interest because he allegedly had links with a security firm located near Kira police station which exports security guards to Somalia and other Arab countries.

Such a state of affairs left Kyanda and Katumba with a poor working relation. Matters worsened when the Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura complained to his allies that Kyanda was eying his job.

Because of that suspicion, when a fake story earlier ran on the social media that Kyanda had replaced Kayihura as police chief, Kayihura suspected Kyanda of being behind it.

It later turned out that when Kyanda was linked to polish arms scandal, Museveni tasked Kayihura in November to go to Poland to investigate the matter. Kayihura went and spent two weeks there conducting the investigations. He returned about three weeks back with a voluminous report.

He straightaway went to State House, Entebbe where he delivered to Museveni his findings. The findings were implicating Kyanda, much as he kept denying it when the president summoned him.

Museveni was however determined to sack him, albeit some first family members who kept pleading for Kyanda.

The only compromise Museveni in respect to that pleading was to send him for further studies in India.

He replaced Kyanda with the little known Brig. Geoffrey Katsigazi.