KAMPALA, Uganda — A former top police commander has been arrested in connection with the 2015 assassination of Ugandan prosecutor Joan Kagezi, a development that revives long-standing suspicions of official involvement in the high-profile murder.
Senior Superintendent of Police Nixon Agasirwe, who once led the now-disbanded Special Operations Unit, was taken into custody Thursday from a hideout in Kira municipality. Police sources confirmed his detention at a facility in Wakiso district, where he awaits interrogation regarding Kagezi’s killing.
Agasirwe’s arrest follows a bombshell confession in court Wednesday by Daniel Kiwanuka Kisekka, a Uganda People’s Defence Forces deserter who pleaded guilty to murdering Kagezi. Kisekka, 43, told the High Court that “Nixon” sponsored the murder. When pressed for a full name by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Lino Anguzu, Kisekka only replied, “I only know Nixon.”
Kisekka was sentenced to 35 years in prison after entering into a plea bargain with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Jane Frances Abodo. Under the agreement, terrorism charges against Kisekka were dropped, leaving him to serve a reduced sentence for murder instead of potentially life imprisonment.
Kagezi, then assistant director of Public Prosecutions, was shot dead on March 30, 2015, around 7:15 p.m. in Kiwatule, a city suburb, as she drove home with her children. Assailants on a motorcycle opened fire on her car after she stopped at a fruit stall. An autopsy revealed she was shot twice in the neck and shoulder.
Kisekka testified that he was informed by another suspect, John Kibuuka, also known as Musa, that a man identified only as Nixon had hired them to kill Kagezi. Kibuuka and his co-accused, Nasur Abdallah Mugonole and John Masajjage, have denied murdering Kagezi and face charges of terrorism and murder.
For years, intelligence information has hinted at the involvement of security personnel in Kagezi’s murder, but concrete evidence and witnesses had been elusive. A senior police source indicated that Kisekka’s revelation about “Nixon” has “re-opened an old trail,” providing grounds for Agasirwe’s detention and interrogation.
The investigation into Kagezi’s murder has been plagued by challenges, including allegations of missing evidence and cover-ups. Days after the assassination, video footage believed to be crucial disappeared from two upscale Kampala hotels where Kagezi reportedly held her final meetings. It later emerged that the footage was collected by individuals who impersonated investigators.
In April 2017, the New Vision newspaper reported that operatives not formally involved in the investigation raided a city hotel and retrieved surveillance footage a day before police officially requested it. In 2018, the same newspaper reported that two other operatives from the flying squad unit fled the country after being linked to Kagezi’s murder.
At the time of her death, Kagezi was leading the prosecution of 13 suspects in the July 2010 Kampala bombings, which killed more than 90 people. Her murder was widely perceived as an attempt to derail the terror trial.
Agasirwe has a contentious history within the police force. Once lauded as a formidable commander of the Special Operations Unit between 2014 and 2017 for his efforts in curbing violent crime, the unit’s legacy was tarnished by accusations of torture, extrajudicial actions, and politically motivated operations.
Agasirwe was first arrested in October 2017 and later faced charges of unlawful possession of military-grade ammunition and aiding and abetting kidnapping. He spent four years on remand before his release in 2022.
