THE CIC Gen. Kaguta Museveni has sacked Uganda Peoples Defence Forces Chief of Staff Land Forces, Brigadier Leopold Kyanda after being briefed by a team of police and military intelligence over his involvement in stealing from a Polish company of Shs2 billion in a procurement scam involving top UPDF soldiers in an arms deal investigation.
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Now sent on katebe, Brig Leopold Kyanda who for so many years head the elite Presidential Guard that is responsible for the president’s life has been replaced by Brig Geoffrey Katsigazi on a caretaker basis.
The army spokesperson, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, on Tuesday confirmed that a radio call announced the firing of the once influential Brigadier General.
He said: “That’s true.”
He is not officially under investigation and has denied involvement in a scam to allegedly defraud a Polish arms company of about $500,000 (£405,400).
It is through this front that they then received the equivalent of more than Shs2b for the purported ‘consultancy’ services.
Brig. Kyanda was seen as a rising star in Uganda’s army and has been close to the first family. But he has now been moved from his senior position in the military and sent on a year’s course to India.
The defence spokesman says there’s no guarantee he will take up the same role on his return.
In recent years President Yoweri Museveni, who seized power in 1986 and is now serving his fifth presidential term, has phased out the old guard in the military in favour of a new generation of officers like Mr Kyanda.
They have risen through the ranks quickly and are considered loyal to the president’s son, a commander in the army.
A Sandhurst-trained officer, Brig. Kyanda who joined the army in 1985, has previously served in very sensitive positions in the UPDF, first as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Commander-in-Chief General Yoweri Museveni; then as Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI); a Military Attache to the US and then as Chief of Personnel and Administration (CPA) in the army.
Unconfirmed reports say he has been sent on a one-year course at the National Defence College in New Delhi, Indian. It is the highest seat of strategic learning for Indian Defence and Civil Services officers of the rank of Brigadier. The college offers the very prestigious course attended only by a few hand-picked defence officers of Brigadier (one-star General) rank and from friendly foreign countries. Each year, approximately 25 officers from countries like the USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Nepal, UAE and others attend the course.
