Today marks exactly two years since gunmen riding on a motorcycle gruesomely murdered former Police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi. Kaweesi was gunned down near his home in Kulambiro, Nakawa division, on March 17, 2017, as he left his home for work. He was killed together with his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver, Geoffrey Mambewa.
But two years after Kaweesi’s murder, what has been done? Shortly after the murder, over 40 people were arrested. The suspects included civilians, Police and Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) officers. Also, children belonging to some of the suspects were held amid public protests.
Later, however, many of the 40 suspects were released, after Police established that they were not linked to the murder. A total of 22 suspects were produced in court, although Police failed to adduce evidence against them. As a result, the Nakawa chief magistrate’s court released 19 of them, on bail.
But when Ahmada Shaban Ssenfuka, Umar Maganda, Abdul-Majid Ojerere and Ibrahim Kissa were granted bail in March last year, they were re-arrested on fresh charges of terrorism and treason. They have since been released.
On March 7, this year, the High Court deferred the ruling on the bail application of eight other men accused of murdering Kaweesi, to March 19 due to delayed verifi cation of their national identity cards by the National Identifi cation and Registration Authority. Today, a total of 23 suspects are facing trial over the murder.
The security agencies have carried out an extensive investigation into the murder. However, there have been no conclusive findings on who and why Kaweesi was killed. The Internal Security Organisation (ISO) fi ndings showed that the guns used in the murder were not registered in Uganda, just like the phone SIM cards used to communicate.
Recently, ISO revealed that the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at a nearby supermarket in Kulambiro recorded the assailants. Unfortunately, this video footage has since gone missing. The source said the server of the CCTV camera system at the supermarket (name withheld), where the footage had been captured, was stolen by unknown people a few days after the murder took place.
The development came at a time when the National Security Council (NSC) endorsed an investigation by the British Police – the Scotland Yard – into Kaweesi’s murder. The Scotland Yard will come up with a report which will decide the fate of senior Police and army offi cers accused of murdering Kaweesi.
“It will be the Scotland Yard fi ndings that will determine whether the senior security offi cers arrested and detained will be charged with Kaweesi’s murder or not,” the source revealed.
The ISO report implicated Kayihura, several senior Police offi cers and former FSU operatives in the murder of Kaweesi. Although Kayihura was arrested on June 13, 2018, from his home at Kashagama in Lyantonde district, he was not charged with the murder of Kaweesi. He was instead charged with failure to protect war materials before the General Court Martial in Makindye, Kampala.
Under the charge of failure to protect war materials and others, the court chairman, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti, informed Kayihura that he faces three counts — two of failure to protect war materials and one of aiding the kidnap and illegal repatriation of Rwandan nationals.