Kaweesi murder investigations

Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | Since the military arrested the former Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, they have sought to pin him for the murder of former Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

The Independent has learnt that the team actively investigating Kayihura on alleged connection to the Kaweesi murder comprises 12 officers; seven from police, three from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), and two from the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).

Those from police are Grace Akullo, the Director Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (CIID), who also chairs the team, her deputy; Senior Commissioner of Police (SCP) Elly Womanya, and five police detectives. From ISO, it is Lt. Churchill Mutatina and another, and from CMI, it is the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT) Director, Charles Asiimwe, and two others. The team was expected to conclude its investigations and submit a report this week. The report could form the basis for further action against Kayihura; including prosecution for allegedly murdering Kaweesi.

Kaweesi was murdered on March 17, 2017 together with his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver Godfrey Mambewa when assailants showered bullets at the car they were driving, in Kulambiro; a Kampala city suburb.

Initially, the investigations had focused on other suspects, including terrorists belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

That was the time, police under Kayihura, was taking the lead role in investigations.

However, the ground started to shift under Kayihura when he became discredited and sidelined in the investigations because of the widespread criminality that had cropped up in police over the 12 years he headed it, his personal closeness to some of the suspects behind the criminality, and his appointing of some of them to powerful positions on the force in total disregard of police structures and hierarchy.

With Kayihura shunted aside but still in office, the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) took centre stage. And their first order of business, it appears, was to nip Kayihura.

But first they encircled him by arresting his lieutenants, including Nixon Agasirwe, the former Commandant Special Operations Unit and several others last year.

The course of the Kaweesi murder investigation completely changed when Kayihura was fired on March 4. The investigation now appears focused on him and his close associates.

Uncooperative witnesses

Kayihura’s lieutenant, Agasirwe, worked closely with Abbey Kitagenda, the former Police Commandant Flying Squad in charge of Kampala North.

Reports have been circulating that following his arrest by the CMI in May, Kitagenda had confessed that he is the one who stopped Kaweesi’s car before assassins showered it with bullets.

Although Kaweesi’s car was sprayed with bullets, it was found properly parked with the engine running, which pointed investigators to the possibility that someone known to Kaweesi had stopped the car voluntarily before he was murdered.

It is argued that when a car is shot at while being driven and the driver is distracted or killed, it usually swerves off the road.

That is what happened to the VW Beetle, then-Arua Municipality legislator, Ibrahim Abiriga, was driving in together with his brother when it was sprayed with bullets by assailants; killing them instantly.

Kayihura’s arrest came days after the murder of Abiriga.