Ex-flying squad operative remanded over Kagezi murder

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The former Flying Squad Unit operative Abdul Noor Ssemujju alias Minaana, has been remanded to Luzira Prison over the murder of the former assistant director of public prosecutions, Joan Kagezi.

Minaana, who describes himself as a peasant and resident of Nakyesa village, Galilaya sub-county in Kayunga district, appeared before Grade One Magistrate Daphine Ayebare, who read to him a charge of murder.

The magistrate, however, did not allow Minaana to plead to the charge because her court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the matter.

“The court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter because it is capital in nature,” Ayebare said.

Minaana will return to the court on July 8 this year, when Senior Superintendent of Police Nickson Karuhanga Agasirwe, the former commander of the disbanded Special Operations Unit, is also expected to appear in court over the same matter.

Abdul Noor Ssemujju alias Minaana being supported by Security Operatives to enter court at Nakawa Chief Magistrates' Court on June 24, 2025. (Photo by Miriam Najjingo)

The offence of murder elicits a maximum sentence of death upon conviction.

Kagezi was shot dead at about 7:15 pm 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.

The magistrate directed the prison authorities to subject Minaana to medical examination and furnish the court with the report on the same day, following complaints from the latter that he was tortured prior to being brought to the court.

“There is need for a medical examination to be carried out and a report is given to the court to be able to confirm allegations of torture,” Ayebare said.

Abdul Noor Ssemujju alias Minaana being appearing before court at Nakawa Chief Magistrates' Court on June 24, 2025. (Photo by Miriam Najjingo)

Minaana’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 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.

Other cases

Minaana was arrested in October 2017 on charges of kidnapping a Rwandan refugee, Vincent Kalisa, who had sought asylum in Uganda in 2013. Operatives from CMI picked him up from Nabweru, Wakiso.

Although he was detained for several months, he was eventually released, only to be re-arrested in 2019 on new charges relating to illegal cross-border activities, including clandestine repatriation of Rwandan fugitives.

In one of the cases filed by prosecutors, Minaana and Agasirwe were accused of kidnapping Kalisa from Lukooli village in Luweero District on August 13, 2017.

The two were allegedly armed with firearms and grenades—military-grade weapons reserved for the armed forces—and forcibly returned Kalisa to Rwanda against his will.     

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.

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.