Agasirwe, Minaana murder probe nearing completion – State

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The State has told court that the probe linking Senior Superintendent of Police Nickson Karuhanga Agasirwe and former Flying Squad Unit operative Abdul Noor Ssemujju, alias Minaana, to the murder of Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Kagezi is nearing completion.

On Wednesday (December 10), Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka informed Nakawa Court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Andrew Katurubuki that the Uganda Police Force was completing the final stages of its investigations.

“The matter is for further mention, but inquiries are nearing completion. As such, we seek a last adjournment to have the accused committed to the High Court for trial,” Birivumbuka requested.

This prompted the magistrate to further remand to Luzira Prison the accused persons until January 7, 2026, when they will return to court for committal purposes.

Procedurally, on completion of the probe, the Police inform the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who notifies the court of the development by formulating an indictment.

The committal papers containing the indictment are then forwarded to the High Court, which has jurisdiction to try the capital offence of murder.

Agasirwe was represented by lawyer Michael Akampulira, while Minaana was represented by lawyer Chrysostom  Katumba.

The case

Agasirwe is also the former commander of the disbanded Special Operations Unit. Minaana describes himself as a peasant. They are battling charges of murder.

Under Ugandan law, the offence of murder attracts a maximum sentence of death upon conviction.

Kagezi was shot dead on the evening of March 30, 2015, in Kiwatule, a Kampala suburb, as she drove home with her children.

It is alleged that Agasirwe, 54, a resident of Kiyinda Ward in Kira municipality, Wakiso district, Minaana and others, still at large with malice aforethought, caused her death.

Agasirwe’s arrest

Agasirwe was arrested on May 21 this year, after a convicted former Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) soldier, Daniel Kiwanuka Kisekka, told the court that a senior government official named “Nixon” allegedly financed Kagezi’s murder.

Senior Superintendent of Police Nickson Karuhanga Agasirwe upon arrest. (File)

The 43-year-old Kisekka was handed a 35-year prison term by the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala upon his own plea of guilty in the murder of Kagezi.

However, John Kibuuka aka Musa, John Massajjage aka Mubiru Brian and Nasur Abdallah Mugonole, who are on remand in Luzira Prison, have since denied killing Kagezi. They are on trial before a panel of four judges led by Michael Elubu.

Kisekka claimed under oath that he was told by one of his colleagues, John Kibuuka alias Musa, that a man identified only as “Nixon” had contracted them to execute Kagezi.

While serving as operatives in the Flying Squad Unit, Minaana and Agasirwe were among the eight suspects earlier linked to the brutal assassination of Kagezi.

Minana’s arrest

Minaana, who was arrested in 2017 over the Kagezi murder and later released, was picked up on June 24 this year by Criminal Investigations Directorate detectives from his home in Galilaya, Kayunga district.

former Flying Squad Unit operative Abdul Noor Ssemujju, alias Minaana, upon arrest. (File)

At the time of Kagezi’s killing, Minaana, who joined Police in an unstructured setting in 2007, was a field operative with the flying squad, and he then worked closely with Agasirwe.

Police investigations discovered that Minaana operated a garage just 600 metres from the crime scene, which sources allege may have served as a surveillance or planning point.

Earlier investigations carried out jointly by the then Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (now rebranded as Defence Intelligence and Security), the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United Kingdom’s Scotland Yard flagged the suspicious presence of several known police operatives at the murder scene on the evening Kagezi was shot dead.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operated an office at the Criminal Investigations Directorate headquarters in Kibuli after the July 2010 Kampala bombings that left over 90 people dead. Kagezi was the lead prosecutor of the 13 suspects implicated.