President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni,the Commander in chief of armed forces has removed Maj.General Kandiho from his position as head of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI).
Gen Kandiho is being replaced by Maj Gen James Biriungi.
High ranking sources confirmed to this webiste that Gen Kandiho is being posted to neighboring South Sudan in a soon to be announced position.
Who is Abel Kandiho?
Major General Kandiho is a Ugandan military officer who has been serving as the head of Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI) in the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF).
Rwanda protested Kandiho’s appointment as Chief Military Intelligence claiming he’s anti-Rwanda; he’s at the forefront of Uganda’s frost relationship with Rwanda.
Maj. Gen. Kandiho is a humble man, kind, considerate, and meticulous. He has much love and passion to serve his country, is God-fearing, and is a keen listener.
Gen Kandiho and the CMI team he leads, have been commended greatly in the fight against criminality in Uganda, dismantling terrorists’ cells funded by a neighbouring country inclusive.
Work and Experience
Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho is the current Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI) in Uganda. He was appointed to the position in January 2017 and ever since then, the army’s intelligence unit alongside police has been engaged in various operations regarding criminal acts.
Between 2015 and 2018, Maj. Gen Abel Kandiho blamed the spate of killings in the urban areas of Uganda on a network of thugs connected to Gen Kale Kayihura, Uganda’s former Inspector General of Police.
Gen Kandiho accused Kayihura of waging campaigns purposely to depict the inner towns as ungovernable, and as the head of CMI, he was among the officers who interrogated Kayihura, after his arrest in 2018.
In November 2017, Gen Kandiho was promoted to the rank of Brigadier, by then he was at the rank of Colonel and the Commander of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.
In December 2019, as a Brigadier, Kandiho met with Lieutenant General Jeremiah Nyembe, and the Military Intelligence Chief of South Africa purposely to share intelligence information.
In 2014, at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Kandiho served as the Commander Makindye Military Barracks, the UPDF Military Police headquarters.
Then on 30 May 2014, Kandiho got appointed as Deputy Commander and replaced by Colonel Emmanuel Kanyesigye. Kandiho stayed on as Deputy Commander.
In 2009, a Major by then, Kandiho served as a military officer at CMI. Also, The Independent Newspaper Uganda in 2019 reported that Kandiho served as the High Commission in Kigali, Rwandan capital city in the early 2000s where he had disagreements with the security forces in Rwanda.
On August 15 2021, a Facebook post claimed that Maj. Gen. Kandiho had been appointed as Uganda’s Ambassador to Burundi and at the same time accused of plotting to assassinate Gen Everiste Ndayishimiye, the Burundian President.
These later turned to be false claims.
At the help of CMI, Gen Kandiho on the 14th of August met Burundi President Ndiyishimiye for a talk aimed at strengthening Burundi and Uganda’s relations.
Also, Uganda, Egypt through Kandiho signed the Intelligence sharing Protocol purposely to combat terrorism. While in December 2020, he signed a memorandum of understanding with the Egyptian intelligence unit at CMI headquarters in Mbuya, Kampala.
This followed up the two agencies meeting held in Cairo, the Egyptian capital city, in December 2020.
Treasury said in a statement.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday that financial sanctions were imposed on Uganda’s chief of military intelligence, Major General Abel Kandiho. He is accused of human rights abuses under his watch.
The Ugandan military said it was disappointed by the decision and would ask Washington for clarification, as Kampala has served as a security partner against militancy in East Africa in recent years.
Treasury officials said in a statement that under Kandiho, military intelligence officers arrested, detained, and physically abused Ugandans “because of their nationality, political views, or critique of the Ugandan government”.
In Kandiho’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, detainees were held without legal process, subjected to “gruesome beatings and other inhumane acts,” including sexual abuse, electrocutions, and other abuses that resulted in long-term injury and even death, the Treasury Department said.