The trial of three men accused of murdering former Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Kagezi Namazzi continued before the High Court’s International Crimes Division in Kampala on Friday, with one of the accused alleging that former Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura was linked to the plot that led to her assassination. Nasur Abdallah Mugonole, one of the accused, told the court that although he knew about the plan to kill Kagezi, he did not participate in the actual shooting.
Mugonole alleged that police officer Hamisi Kakaire was the one who shot Kagezi using a firearm allegedly supplied by former Flying Squad commander Nixon Agasirwe, who is separately charged with Kagezi’s murder alongside Abdul Noor Ssemujju, alias Minana. Their case is yet to be committed to the High Court for trial after investigations were completed in December 2025.
He told the court that his role was to gather intelligence on individuals involved in planning the assassination and report back to a person he identified only as “Green.”Mugonole further claimed that he had participated in other violent operations, including alleged assassination plots, bomb attacks and targeted killings.
During his testimony, Mugonole implicated Gen. Kayihura, alleging that he was involved in the operation that culminated in Kagezi’s murder. He named several individuals he claimed were part of the operation, including J.J. Odong, Hamza Kagame, David Muhamuzi and another person he identified only as Kayanja, whom he described as an intelligence operative.He told the court that Kagezi knew him personally and possessed documents allegedly implicating Gen. Kayihura in violent activities and illegal firearms dealings.
According to Mugonole, the documents angered the former police chief.Mugonole further alleged that Kayihura offered Kagezi Shs1 billion in exchange for the files, but she declined the offer, saying she intended to hand them over to President Yoweri Museveni.He also claimed that co-accused-turned-state witness Daniel Kisekka Kiwanuka told him while they were in prison that Gen. Kayihura financed and masterminded the operation and that Kisekka had introduced him to Agasirwe.
Mugonole further alleged that Kagezi’s mobile phone was stolen before her murder by a man he identified as Calvin Jordan, who allegedly gained the family’s trust by pretending to be interested in dating Kagezi’s daughter. He claimed Jordan maintained contact with the family from 2010 until the time of Kagezi’s death. According to Mugonole, Jordan handed the stolen phone to Agasirwe, who allegedly delivered it to Gen. Kayihura at his residence in Ntinda.
He alleged that the phone was then given to a man identified as Lieutenant Francis, who installed a tracking device bearing serial number 3250 to monitor Kagezi’s movements. He told the court that the phone was returned to Kagezi three days later and alleged that similar phone-tracking methods were later used against former Buyende District Police Commander Muhammad Kirumira and former Assistant Inspector General of Police and police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi before they were killed.
Mugonole said the original plan had been to kill Kagezi on March 29, 2015. He also admitted participating in the robbery of a women’s SACCO with Kisekka and testified that while living with him for four months, he brought two guns and their magazines on June 24, 2007. He further told the court that he remained in contact with members of the group even while in prison because they believed they had connections to senior government officials and continued sharing information.
However, when the panel of judges asked him to identify those individuals, Mugonole declined, saying he feared for his safety. The prosecution is expected to cross-examine Mugonole when the hearing resumes. The three accused on trial are John Kibuuka, also known as Musa, an inmate at Kigo Prison; Nasur Abdallah Mugonole; and John Masajjage, also known as Brian Mubiru, Badru or Congo, who are both incarcerated at Kitalya Maximum Security Prison.
They were initially charged together with Daniel Kisekka Kiwanuka, who pleaded guilty to the charges, entered a plea bargain with the prosecution and was sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment after becoming a state witness. Two weeks ago, a panel of four High Court judges Dr Andrew Bashaija, Duncan Gaswaga, Joyce Kavuma and Richard Wejuli Wabwire ruled that the remaining three accused had a case to answer and ordered them to begin presenting their defence.
Kagezi was shot dead on March 30, 2015, near her home in Kiwatule, a Kampala suburb. During the prosecution’s case, state witness Daniel Kisekka Kiwanuka testified that he had known all three accused since childhood and that they had worked in neighbouring bakeries around Kalerwe before he joined the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) in 2002.
Kisekka told the court that after completing military training in 2003, he met Kibuuka in Kalerwe, who allegedly persuaded him to desert the army, steal firearms and return to Kampala to commit armed robberies.He admitted participating in several motorcycle robberies and attacks on microfinance institutions before agreeing to take part in the murder of Kagezi.
Kisekka further testified that after deserting the army and escaping from Makindye Military Barracks in July 2011, he relocated to Namaliri in Mukono District, where he grew watermelons and tomatoes and later engaged in charcoal burning.According to his testimony, Kibuuka later approached him with an offer of US$200,000 to kill Kagezi because she was allegedly interfering with Muslim-related cases.
He said Kibuuka never disclosed who wanted Kagezi dead but assured him that the sponsor would supply the murder weapons.Kisekka testified that two days before the murder, he went to Mugonole’s home in Nabweru to clean and oil the two guns that would be used in the operation.He told the court that on March 30, 2015, Kibuuka called the group to assemble under a mango tree in Kyebando, where he distributed one gun and a magazine to Kibuuka and paid each member Shs500,000 as a deposit.
The group then travelled on two motorcycles through Bahai and Ntinda to Kiwatule Church, where they waited for Kagezi.According to Kisekka, when Kagezi stopped her white double-cabin pickup to buy fruit at about 7 p.m., Kibuuka signalled the team by raising his thumb. Masajjage rode past the vehicle, allowing Kibuuka to jump off and allegedly shoot Kagezi twice.Kisekka testified that he later fired a shot into the air to disperse bystanders and enable Kibuuka to confirm that Kagezi was dead before the group fled through Nsooba and Kanyanya.
He added that the following day they travelled to a traditional healer in Kayunga District to perform rituals intended to help them evade arrest.Court records show that investigators took about eight years to identify and arrest all the suspects.The records indicate that Masajjage fled to Buvuma Islands, where he worked as a shoe repairer and boda boda rider while using the name Brian Mubiru to evade arrest.
He was eventually arrested in Wandegeya in August 2023.Investigators also established that Kibuuka and Mugonole had already been arrested, convicted and imprisoned for unrelated offences committed after Kagezi’s murder.Kisekka was arrested in Luwero in October 2023 over an alleged theft case. While in custody, investigators linked him to Kagezi’s murder, leading to his cooperation with prosecutors and eventual guilty plea. The trial resumes in September 2026-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
