Uganda’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kale Kayihura is directly leading investigations into more than 50 high profile cases through specialised units of the force.
The cases in which detectives report directly to Kayihura without following the proper criteria as per the police standing orders include; the murders of Muslim Clerics, former police director Andrew Felix Kaweesi and deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Kagezi. Also on the list of cases are ADF rebel chief Jamil Mukulu terrorism charges, Nansana serial murders, and killing of police officers and theft of guns in Northern and Eastern Uganda among many others.
Between 2012 and 2016, six Muslim clerics were murdered in cold blood by unknown assailants and investigations have been ongoing. For some like the murder of Sheikh Hassan Kirya and Mustapha Bahiga, prosecution completed trial in High court and none of the fourteen suspects was found guilty of the murders.
On the morning of March 17 this year, the Police Spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi was murdered alongside his driver Godfrey Mambewa and bodyguard Kenneth Erau. The shooting took place a few metres from Kaweesi’s home in Kulambiro, a Kampala suburb. Investigations have been ongoing with more than 30 people arrested of whom 16 have been charged in court for the murder.
Joan Kagezi, then a state prosecutor was gunned down in Kiwatukle a Kampala suburb at in March 2015. Even though the file was opened, investigations commenced and five people were arrested, they were all released and no progress has been made in the investigations.
The most recent case being investigated by Kayihura is the murder of the German National Remus Manfred three weeks ago in Buikwe District. Two suspects have since been arrested in connection to the murder and a pistol believed to have been used in the murder recovered.
None of the top officers in the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) is in any way involved in these investigations or gets updated on the progress.
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