Prosecutor Kagezi murder: State directed to respond to senior Police officer bail application

KAMPALA - High Court judge Isaac Muwata has given the prosecution one week to respond to a bail application filed by Senior Superintendent of Police Nixon Agasirwe, who is accused of murdering Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Kagezi.

The judge on February 19, 2026, directed Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka to file and serve written submissions to the defence in response to Agasirwe’s bail application by February 27.

He directed that any rejoinder from the applicant (Agasirwe) must be filed by March 3. He adjourned the matter to March 5, 2026, for mention.

The lawyers from Akampurira and Partners representing Agasirwe told court that their client was arrested and charged with murder on June 16, 2025, at the Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court.

They say Agasirwe was subsequently remanded to Luzira Maximum Security Prison, where he remains detained.

Defence lawyer Michael Akampulira argued that Agasirwe’s prolonged detention violates his constitutional rights to a fair and speedy trial, as well as the presumption of innocence.

In their submission, the lawyers stated that Agasirwe,54, is of an advanced age and qualifies for bail.

They further argued that he has a fixed place of abode and substantial sureties who can guarantee his appearance in court whenever required.

“My Lord, the applicant has a fixed place of abode and substantial sureties to guarantee his attendance in court whenever he is required for trial. It is only fair and just that this court exercises its discretion to grant him bail,” the defence submitted.

Agasirwe presented three sureties, all family members: Aloysius Muhangi, 60; David Kureeba, 52; and Leeman Mugume, 46.

The defence informed the court that all necessary supporting documents had been filed to demonstrate that the sureties have fixed places of abode and the financial capacity to stand surety for the applicant.

Agasirwe is battling charges of murder alongside the former Flying Squad Unit operative Abdul Noor Ssemujju, alias Minaana. The offence attracts a maximum sentence of death, on conviction.

Kagezi was shot dead at about 7:15pm on March 30, 2015, in Kiwatule, a Kampala suburb, as she drove home with her children.

The case

Agasirwe, who is also the former commander of the disbanded Special Operations Unit and Minaana, who describes himself as a peasant, are battling charges of murder. The offence of murder attracts a maximum sentence of death upon conviction.

Kagezi was shot dead at about 7:15pm on March 30, 2015, in Kiwatule, a Kampala suburb, as she drove home with her children.

It is alleged that Agasirwe, Minaana and others, still at large on March 30, 2015, at Kiwatule in Nakawa Division, with malice aforethought, caused the death of Kagezi.

Agasirwe, Minana’s arrest

Agasirwe was arrested on May 21, last year, after a convicted former Uganda Peoples Defence Forces soldier, Daniel Kiwanuka Kisekka, told the court that a senior government official named “Nixon” allegedly financed Kagezi’s murder.

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 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.

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

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

Investigators also discovered that Minaana operated a garage just 600 metres from the crime scene, which sources now 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 night Kagezi was killed.