Early life and career Tiyua was born as a member of the
Kakwa people in
Maracha District, part of the
West Nile Province of
Uganda. He joined the
Uganda Army in 1961, and was
lieutenant by 1971. When Army commander
Idi Amin ousted President
Milton Obote in the
1971 coup d'état and installed himself as dictator, Tiyua remained in the military. Tiyua considered it his duty to obey the Commander-in-Chief, and thus did not question Amin's dictatorship. The
Battle of Mutukula went badly for the Ugandans who were overwhelmed by the Tanzanian forces in a matter of hours. While the fighting was still ongoing, the Gondo Battalion retreated against the orders of the Ugandan high command. Tiyua subsequently stated that Bananuka had ordered the withdrawal, whereas the latter accused Tiyua of lying and being responsible for the retreat. By March 1979, Tiyua and the rest of the Eastern Brigade were stationed at
Mbale in eastern Uganda. In course of the
following battle, the rebels captured Tororo. Upon hearing of this, Tiyua rallied his troops and launched a counter-attack alongside other Ugandan military units, routing the insurgents and retaking Tororo on 4 March. This marked one of the few Ugandan victories during the Uganda–Tanzania War. On 8 April 1979, President Amin personally visited Tororo, and promoted Tiyua to
brigadier for his role in the fighting. serving as its "chief administrator" under the overall leadership of
Juma Oris. Tiyua was again incarcerated in the Maximum Security Prison of Luzira, Though set free on 21 April 1999, he was immediately re-arrested, and was finally released on 21 June 2000. Since then, he has lobbied for former WNBF fighters who still live as insurgents to lay down their weapons. The Ugandan government subsequently organized "resettlement packages" for ex-rebels in the West Nile sub-region, consisting of USh 250,000 and some goods, but soon suspended the distribution of these packages due to many ex-insurgents reportedly cheating the system by presenting family members as former combatants to get more than they were due. Tiyua condemned the suspension, arguing that there were many more former rebels than the government admitted, and that the ex-combatants were not cheating the system. In subsequent years, Tiyua publicly urged the Ugandan government to pay WNBF veterans a regular pension to ensure that they would not resume their insurgency. The government eventually agreed to do so in 2018, whereupon Tiyua applauded its decision. == Personal life ==