Andrew Felix Kaweesi
On March 17 this year, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi, his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and Driver Geoffrey Mambewa were killed in a hail of bullets by unidentified gunmen near his home in Kulambiro.
The shocking death was however eclipsed by the ensuing confusion as investigations were underway, with a policeman intruding the scene of crime and attempting to pick soil samples allegedly on the orders of a senior police officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Jonathan Baroza, a former aide to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) General Kale Kayihura.
The intruding policeman was stopped in his tracks by AIGP Fred Yiga and since then nothing much is known about his whereabouts. But ACP Baroza, the officer who allegedly sent him, has been sent to Algeria to ostensibly pursue further studies, a development we are told, has not gone down well in some police circles.
It is imperative to note that as all the hullaballoo over AIGP Kaweesi’s murder raged on, President Yoweri Museveni weighed in, ordering IGP Kayihura to ‘clean up his house’, which he said, had been ‘infiltrated by mafia’.
However, as all that goes on several people have been arrested in connection with AIGP Kaweesi’s murder, with the Mayor of Kamwenge Geoffrey Byamukama allegedly tortured for being linked to the death. Also, a very experienced intelligence operative, Lt Godfrey Musisi, formerly of the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) is being held at the Nalufenya police Special Operations facility in Jinja, while 13 other suspects have already been arraigned before court to answer to the Kaweesi murder charges.
Currently, not much is known about the case but police says investigations are progressing.
Juvenal Kananura/Jackie Nsenga Kananura
In January 2013 city tycoon Juvenal Kananura was killed by his estranged wife Jackie Nsenga, who knocked the deceased with a car at his home in the leafy Bugolobi suburb.
Immediately after Kananura’s death all seemed to have been settled, with the tycoon father Donat Kananura exonerating Jackie of any mischief in relation to the knocking down of her husband.
However, all this was to nastily turnaround, with new claims by Kananura’s family that Jackie killed Juvenal Nsenga intentionally. This followed other claims linked to the deceased’s property and its inheritance. Sources say the older Kananura was peeved when Jackie claimed all the properties yet the family had allegedly turned a ‘blind eye’ to the killing of their son, ostensibly to focus on the future of the deceased’s children.
As the feud raged on, several big names including President Yoweri Museveni, Inspector General of Police (IGP) General Kale Kayihura and other police officers came up, with Kayihura allegedly shielding Jackie, who is said to be his in-law, from the ensuing pressure.
At the time, reports indicate, Mr Museveni intervened and prevailed over those involved with the case to handle it expeditiously, at the prompting of Donat Kananura, who had allegedly since changed positions and blamed his daughter-in-law for the death of Juvenal Kananura.
Kenneth Watmon Akena/Mathew Kanyamunyu
In November 2016 social worker Kenneth Watmon Akena was shot dead, allegedly by Mathew Kanyamunyu, who was in the company of a female friend, Cynthia Munangwari. This assumption is based on the ‘dying declaration’ allegedly made by Akena to his brother who had rushed to his assistance at Nakasero Hospital.
However, immediately after Akena’s death, things started unfolding negatively, with the killer gun missing, reportedly with the connivance of Kanyamunyu’s brother Joseph, who had also rushed to Nakasero Hospital at the beckon of his now distressed brother.
Meanwhile, the other would-be exhibit, Kanyamunyu’s car, had been cleaned.
Subsequently, murder charges were preferred against the Kanyamunyu brothers, Mathew and Joseph, together with Ms. Munangwari and the trio remanded in Luzira Prison.
Since then Joseph and Cynthia have been granted bail but this was before politics took the better of the case, with politicians Odonga Otto and Beatrice Anywar turning it into a North-West feud when Mathew’s aunt, Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima appeared in court to stand surety for her nephew, Mathew. Winnie is wife to opposition Forum for Democratic Change flag bearer Dr. Kizza Besigye.
Both Odonga Otto and Anywar are opposition FDC MPs, and the former, on seeing Winnie in court, vowed to ensure her husband Dr. Besigye ‘never sets foot’ in Northern Uganda. Odonga Otto also vowed that should police investigations get botched, he would mobilise for the exhumation of Akena’s body from the deceased’s ancestral home in Northern Uganda and have it reburied in Western Uganda, and subsequently ditch the FDC party altogether.
Eria Bugembe Sebunya aka Kasiwukira/Sarah Nabikolo and others
Just like tycoon Juvenal Nsenga, another tycoon Eria Bugembe Sebunya aka Kasiwukira was knocked by a car in the morning as he left his home for a jog.
And, despite believing that Kasiwukira had been murdered, there were murmurs by family and friends of the billionaire-laden Kwalagalana Group, that police had failed in its duties to apprehend the suspects.
“Police have been putting up rewards for people who help to identify criminals but are yet to do so on this case. Why? As members of Kwagalana group we shall not sit back but announce a big reward for any person who leads to the arrest of people involved in this murder.”
In fact, during that time there emerged rumours that one of the Kwagalana Group members, who owed billions to the deceased, was responsible for the murder of Kasiwukira. However, there were also some pointing fingers in the direction of Kasiwukira’s wife Sarah Nabikolo, who was allegedly embroiled in a bitter family quarrel with her husband.
But frustrated by the slow pace and seemingly tired wheels of Uganda’s justice system, the Kwagalana Group members subsequently put up a reward of Shs15m as a reward for anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of Kasiwukira’s murder suspects.
Reading the frustrated mood, the police swung in action and arrested the suspects: Kasiwukira’s wife Sarah Nabikolo, her sister Sandra Nakungu and one police constable, Ashraf Jadin. Intriguingly, the tycoon who had been cited in the murder never made the suspect list.
However, in summary, Nabikolo, her sister Nakungu and PC Jadin were convicted and are currently serving their sentences in Luzira Prison.
That all the cases cited above have had been surrounded by controversy is a worrying indictment on our justice system, which calls for the immediate intervention by the respective authorities.
