Museveni takes over Kaweesi murder probe

President Yoweri Museveni has taken over the investigations into the murder of former Police spokesperson Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi, his driver Geoffrey Wambewo and bodyguard Kenneth Erau.

Senior security sources told New Vision that the President, who was personally riled following the gruesome murder of Kaweesi, his driver and body guard on March 17, asked the Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura and the combined Police and other security agencies to constantly brief him every three days about each development in the case.

Grace Akullo, the director for Crime Investigations Department, currently heads the investigations team that also comprises officials from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, Internal Security Operation and Special Forces Unit, among others.

The teams are also being assisted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and sister agencies from the neighbouring countries, which were also sharing information on some of the suspects and keeping constant watch on all those who were either attempting to flee or had already fled.

Gen. Kayihura confirmed the developments, but did not want to discuss details.

"The President is managing the investigations and I am not at liberty to speak much now," Kayihura told New Vision.

However, sources told New Vision that the President took over investigations to help resolve the standoff within the security circles given the nature of investigations and the different security agencies involved.

Sources also told New Vision that the President got involved in order to avoid any leakage during the course of investigations and help coordinate the teams well.

Sources further said the President was constantly being briefed about the nature the investigations were taking and also all the suspects arrested so far.

The source further told New Vision that security agencies had now intensified the hunt for more of the suspects after reports revealed that some of the late AIGP's killers might have fled the country.

The former AIGP was shot dead on March 17 at about 9am at Kulambiro, a city suburb. The assassin sporadically shot at his car, killing Kaweesi, his driver and bodyguard on the spot.

His death was similar to several other high profile deaths in which assassins have waylaid their victims and shot them before fleeing on motorbikes.

So far, the Police have arrested over 18 suspects from different parts of the country.

Some of the suspects were arrested as they attempted to flee the country while sources told New Vision that a key suspect was arrested from Kenya and flown into the country on Wednesday.

A number of the suspects are detained at the Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja, where the Police team was still carrying out interrogations.

But a source handling the investigations said they had not yet established the motive nor recovered the killer guns and motorbikes that were used in the fatal shooting, although they were following good leads.

Among those arrested so far include two Uganda Peoples Defence Forces soldiers Lt. Geoffrey Musisi and James Mugisa.

Mugisa was arrested in Fort Portal. Police also arrested Derrick Khanyoro, who sources say is a law student and worked in Fort Portal.

Shortly after Kaweesi was gunned down, the Police released composite images of the suspects after interviewing a number of key witnesses at the scene of crime.

The Police forensic team also combed the scene and tried to reconstruct the scene of crime.

The source further told New Vision that they were tracking a number of telephone phone calls the deceased received shortly before he was gunned down.

"Most of these we are arresting are key in the investigations after we thoroughly reviewed the phone printouts of the deceased persons and we have arrested them to help us in the investigation process, though we are looking for more," the source said.

Security sources say their investigations had so far revealed that the assassins trailed Kaweesi for a long period and understood his movements well.

Just last week, the new Police spokesperson, AIGP Asan Kasingye, also told the media that they received death threats.

"I have received threats from telephone number 0782744915. When I checked it out, it is registered in John Kagimu's names," Kasingye said.