The Uganda People Defence Forces (UPDF) has come out to confirm that Rtd. Col. Frank Kaka Bagyenda, who was the Director General of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), has since been fired by President Yoweri Museveni.
The new changes in the leadership of ISO were confirmed by the UPDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Flavia Byekwaso, who wrote on social media about the same.
Brig. Gen. Byekwaso tweeted thus about the matter; “The public is hereby informed that the new Director General Internal Security Organisation (ISO) is Lt Col Charles Oluka and his Deputy is Taban Amin. Lt Katabaazi was only promoted to Major.”
Some press reports have referred to him as the Deputy DG ISO which is incorrect. Congratulations to Lt Col Charles on his new appointment.
— – (@UPDFspokespersn) October 9, 2020
Who Is Kaka
Colonel Kaka Bagyenda, is a Ugandan retired military officer in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
Effective January 2017, he was appointed the Director General of the Internal Security Organisation, Uganda government’s counter intelligence agency, responsible for providing national security intelligence to Uganda’s policy makers.
He was born in Ibanda District, in Uganda’s Western Region, in February 1952. He attended local schools before he was admitted to Makerere University circa 1974. In 1977, he graduated from Makerere with a Bachelor of Commerce degree.
Following his graduation from Makerere, Bagyenda took up employment in the Uganda Ministry of Public Service. Later, he was transferred to the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture. While there, he was posted to Masindi District, as an agricultural officer.
Military Career
In 1981, Bagyenda joined the National Resistance Army (NRA), a rebel guerrilla outfit, led by Yoweri Museveni, who waged the Ugandan Bush War, between 1981 and 1986.
He carried out covert operations for the NRA and was instrumental in the capture of Masindi Army Barracks by the NRA on 20 February 1984.
To disguise himself from the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) soldiers, he adopted the name Kaka, dropping his birth names Frank Bagyenda. He served in the Ugandan military, rising to the rank of Major, before he retired at that rank in 1993.
His assignments in the military included as the commanding officer of a brigade based in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.
He then served as head of the directorate of transport, and then as a member of the then Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), which today is the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI). He also served in Uganda’s Northern Region, where commanded a brigade in the early 1990s.
In 1994, he was recalled and conscripted to assist the Rwanda Patriotic Front capture power in Kigali.
He remained in Uganda however, engaging in the trucking business in Western Uganda, and setting up Panoma Hotel in Kalangala, in the Ssese Islands.
While in Kalangala, Bagyenda remained an active intelligence operative, playing a role in the disruption of illegal fishing on Lake Victoria. In 2013, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel, while in retirement.
In January 2017, he was appointed to head ISO, replacing Brigadier Ronnie Balya, who was then appointed Uganda’s ambassador to South Sudan, based in Juba.