A fifth suspect in the long-running investigation into the 2015 assassination of senior prosecutor Joan Kagezi has been remanded to prison by the Nakawa Chief Magistrates Court.
Ssemujju Abdulnoor, better known as Minana, is a former Special Police Constable with the Flying Squad Unit. He was first arrested back in 2017 over links to Kagezi’s killing but was released without charge. Now, nearly eight years later, he’s back in custody.
Minana was picked up last Thursday from his home in Nakyesa Village, Galilaya Sub-county in Kayunga District following renewed interest in the case. When he appeared in court on Tuesday, it was clear something was wrong.
He couldn’t walk. Three police officers carried him into the courtroom.
Inside the dock, he struggled to remain upright. At one point, he cried out for help, repeatedly calling on former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura. He pleaded to be fed before proceedings could begin.
“I’m hungry. I can’t sit. I can’t stand. I’m not well,” Minana told the court.
Magistrate Daphine Ayabare paused the hearing and ordered that he be given katogo — a local dish — and a soda. Afterward, she attempted to read the charges, but Minana raised fresh complaints. He said he had been beaten and left with injuries on his limbs. Again, the session was stood over until 2:30 p.m. so his condition could be addressed.
But not everyone believed him.
State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka said the suspect was “pretending to be sick” to delay the reading of the charges. The magistrate proceeded to remand him and ordered a medical examination.
Minana now joins four others already facing trial, including former Special Investigations Unit boss Nixon Agasirwe. The case will resume on July 8.
Prosecutors say that on May 30, 2015, in Kiwatule, a suburb of Kampala, Agasirwe, Minana, and others — still on the run — planned and carried out the killing of Kagezi. She was ambushed and shot dead while driving home with her children.
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The lead connecting investigators to Agasirwe came from a convicted ex-UPDF soldier, Daniel Kiwanuka Kisekka. He confessed to his role in the crime and is now serving a 35-year prison sentence.
Kisekka told the court under oath that the murder was financed by someone named “Nixon,” allegedly a high-ranking government official. He said this was revealed to him by another suspect, John Kibuuka alias Musa.
Minana and Agasirwe were already among the eight original suspects linked to the case, all believed to be operatives in the Flying Squad.
Others currently facing trial in the High Court include Kibuuka, John Masajjagge, and Nasur Abudallah Mugonole. They’re being prosecuted for both terrorism and the murder itself.
Joan Kagezi’s assassination shook Uganda. She was not only a high-ranking prosecutor but also one of the most visible faces in the fight against terrorism and organized crime. Her killing, still unresolved after a decade, remains one of the most high-profile political murders in the country’s recent history.
