Today in history: AIGP Kaweesi shot dead

It’s now six years since Kaweesi was shot dead. On this day, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi, his bodyguard Kenneth Erau, and driver Godfrey Wambewo were shot dead in Kulambiro, Nakawa division.

On March, 17 in 2017, unknown assailants armed with submachine guns identical to those used by the presidential elite Special Forces Command guards gunned down a high ranking police officer named Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

The heinous murder took place in Kulambiro, Wakiso district less than 100 metres from the gate of the residence of the deceased. AIGP Kaweesi had been an outspoken critque of the rot in the Uganda police institution and it is said he had already secured an appointment with president Museveni to explain the debacle at the time he was mercilessly butchered.
On the killings of the Muslim clerics, AIGP Kaweesi was consistent with the government narrative that pinned the Allied Defence Forces rebels led by Jamil Mukulu.

“We’ve been condemning these assassinations on Muslim clerics. And without doubt we believe ADF has entrenched and invaded the country to destabilise our peace,” AIGP Kaweesi commented after the killing of the muslim clerics who were assassinated in Kampala and Wakiso. “This government has the capacity to put an end to these security breaches so that our people can enjoy their constitutional rights,” he added.

The AIGP was gunned down just next to his residence in Kulambiro, Wakiso district as he headed to Uganda Christian University in Mukono. His murder triggered widespread outrage with several Ugandans questioning the government over the loopholes in security.

Among those who criticised the government was the now deceased outspoken Muslim leader, Sheikh Nuuhu Muzaata who even threatened to withdraw his bodyguards. “Some of us will be compelled to reject the security officers you assign to us. We do not trust in your system anymore. If a heavily protected officer like Kaweesi can be killed in such a way, then there is no need to have bodyguards,” Muzaata said at a eulogy speech.

Six years down the road, his real killers have never been convicted or apprehended save for the Muslims who were paraded as scapegoats only to be freed by cour a few weeks ago after spending all this time in incarceration at Luzira prison. The public todate believes Kaweesi’s murder was directly linked to the former inspector general of police Gen. Edward Kale Kayihura who arrived at the murder scene in just a blink after the incident occured.