'Agasirwe, Minaana probe over Kagezi murder needs more time'

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The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has informed the court that investigations in the case in which Senior Superintendent of Police Nickson Karuhanga Agasirwe is accused of killing Assistant Director of Public Prosecution Joan Kagezi is progressing well.

“The investigations are progressing well, but we need more time for the Police to finalise them,” Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka requested Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Daphine Ayebare.

Agasirwe, who is also the former commander of the disbanded Special Operations Unit, appeared in court on Tuesday, July 8, together with Abdul Noor Ssemujju, alias Minaana, a former Flying Squad Unit (FSU) operative.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Nickson Karuhanga Agasirwe, the former commander of the disbanded Special Operations Unit (SOU) in the dock during a court session at Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday 8 July 2025. (Photo by Colleb Mugume)

The magistrates also dismissed claims that Minaana was subjected to torture.

The report, compiled by Dr Charles Kajoba, a medical officer with Uganda Prison Services, presented to the court found no evidence of torture.

The duo is battling charges of murder, contrary to sections 171 and 172 of the Penal Code Act. The offence of murder elicits a maximum sentence of death upon conviction.

The case

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, 54, a resident of Kiyinda Ward in Kira municipality, Wakiso district, Minaana and others, still at large on March 30, 2015, at Kiwatule in Nakawa Division with malice aforethought, caused the death of Kagezi.

Agasirwe's arrest

Agasirwe was arrested on May 21 this 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 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. Their case also came up in court yesterday, but it was adjourned indefinitely due to the absence of the judge.

Former flying Squad Unit (FSU) Operative, Abdul Noor Ssemujju alias Minaana (Centre) being escorted by prisons warders to court holding cells after a court session at Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday 8 July 2025. (Photo by Colleb Mugume)

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 last Thursday by Criminal Investigations Directorate detectives from his home in Galilaya, Kayunga district.

What makes Minaana’s arrest more significant is his deep entanglement in the operations that may have paved the way for Kagezi’s murder.

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.

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 (CMI) now rebranded as Defence Intelligence and Security (DIS), the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the UK’s Scotland Yard—flagged the suspicious presence of several known police operatives at the murder scene on the night Kagezi was killed.

The FBI operated an office at the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) 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.