A shady structure of his former self, he closes his eyes for some minutes, takes a deep breath, then composes self. I assure him all will be well, then we settle for a cup of tea.
On a cool afternoon in late June 2010, Thomas Mugalu (not real name), the soft-spoken owner of Mirembe Bar and Restaurant (name of Bar changed) on Kampala’s bustling Luwumu Street, sat in his usual corner beside the counter. Life had been kind to him. A successful businessman, a trusted face in the neighborhood, and a man who minded his own always. But that day, everything changed!
What had started as a routine customer conversation soon spiraled into a nightmare that would leave close to 100 people dead and the peace of a nation shattered. Ahmed, a familiar face and one of Thomas’ regular patrons, approached him with what seemed like a shady but not unheard-of request in downtown Kampala.
He wanted Thomas to help him identify someone who could sell him unregistered Sim cards. “I thought it was just black-market stuff, you know, the usual business people do to avoid taxes or stay anonymous,” he recalls. Indeed, Thomas had off-head, names and contacts of phone accessories dealers around town and right away, he dialed a one Godfrey with whom, he connected Ahmed.
Two days after, Godfrey returns with `bad` news. He was not able to supply Ahmed with the sim cards and the burner phones because he wanted them for a deadly mission against Ugandans. For starters, a burner phone is a disposable, prepaid mobile phone intended for a short-term use before being discarded or burned away. “Tom,” Godfrey said, “this guy and his friends want to use the phones to set off bombs. They want to kill Ugandans watching world cup football.”
This information hit hard, the patriot in Thomas! He regretted having offered to help Ahmed in the first place. Now, here he was, faced with intel which he must hand over to government, lest he lived to be haunted all his life, should Ahmed and team succeed. Little he knew, this was the beginning of the collapse of his freedom and his profitable business he had smoothly run for close to two decades.
Nevertheless, he convinced Godfrey to keep playing hide-and-seek with Ahmed, as he looked for the best way to handle the matter. Indeed, Ismael (name changed), a hitherto friendly ISO operative and now stationed at Kireka-based Rapid Response Unit (RRU) came in handy. Thomas reached out to Ismael with the delicate intelligence and the latter suggested they hand the same over to his boss of the time at RRU, Mr. David Magala.
Reaching Kireka, Mr. Magala wasn’t in office, yet to Ismael and Thomas, this was information that couldn’t wait. Seated in the operational office was none other than Nixon Karuhanga Agasiirwe, a `senior` operative and chief tracker at the base. Ismael elected to confide in Nixon and off, they headed to the operational office. Upon introducing the matter, Nixon ordered Ismael out of office and he remained with Thomas to brief him instead.
“I narrated the entire stuff to him. I informed him of Ahmed and his other colleagues with whom they ran a shop at Pioneer Mall. I also told him how I could positively locate their place of abode in Namasuba, Kikajjo Zone,” said Thomas who, for the very first time after fifteen years, yielded to this writer`s pleas of him speaking out. Nixon then ordered Thomas to be careful and never to discuss the matter with anybody, including Ismael, his would-be handler!
The following day, Thomas led Nixon on a surveillance tour of Ahmed and team`s shop at Pioneer Mall. To his surprise, after the tour, Nixon ordered Thomas to proceed and convince Godfrey to sell the much-needed items to Ahmed! “But officer, these people want to kill Ugandans. We can’t help them implement such a deadly mission, sir,” Thomas reportedly pleaded with Nixon, but in vain.
“Do what I tell you or face the consequences. Tell Godfrey to sell the gadgets to them and leave the rest to me. Secondly, if you chose to tell anyone else about this, the readily available coffin awaits you. If this mission goes through, trust me, I will become the head of this Uganda police and I will remember you,” Thomas recollects Nixon telling him before handing UGX2M to him and announced matching orders to him.
Terrified and panicky, Thomas gathered courage and summoned Godfrey. He told him to proceed and sell the items to Ahmed, convincing him that police were surveilling them. He then approached Ahmed and told him how the items were hard to get, but that Godfrey had finally succeeded. Indeed, Godfrey released the burner phones and sim cards to Ahmed and Thomas sat back, praying against prayer that Nixon doesn’t fail to stop the terrorists.
“From that time, I absconded from watching football from town. I resorted to returning home as early as 6pm,” Thomas recalls. But this did not last long, for barely two weeks away… kaboom, what he feared most happened. On 11th July 2010, the suicide bombings got off against crowds watching the screening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final, at two spots in the capital, Kampala.
Indeed, the following day, Nixon was among the most busy Cops in Uganda. No body stopped to think of how fast he got clues on the terror suspects. He raided the right spot at Pioneer Mall and arrested the right people led by Ahmed Issa Luyima. In total, 60 people were arrested from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, but 13 were screened out, charged and tried before seven were eventually convicted.
During the trial led by Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo, Court heard how the attacks were planned and executed. Prosecution offered that the decision was made in Somalia, and explosives used in the attacks also originated from Somalia and ferried in Uganda through Kenya. The suspects delivered the devices to Kyadondo Rugby Grounds and detonated them by use of a phone, supposedly provided by Godfrey.
Among those found guilty of terrorism, murder and attempted murder is none other but Ahmed Issa Luyima, the man believed to have orchestrated the attacks, and the same man who approached Thomas in search for the burner phones and sim cards. “The prosecution has proved that Isa Ahmed Luyima was the mastermind in the execution of the heinous plan hatched in Somalia by the Islamic extremist group of al-Shabab to attack Uganda and punish her for having contributed to AMISOM forces in Somalia,” Dollo ruled.
A Betrayed Law
Under Ugandan law, as in many other countries, knowing about a crime and failing to report it is a criminal offense. But what happens when the one you’re reporting to is part of the cover-up? “If a police officer conceals such intelligence, they can be charged with obstruction of justice, misconduct in public office, or even aiding terrorism,” says a legal expert we spoke to.
To date, no action has ever been taken against Nixon Agasiirwe for his alleged role in this episode, save for the widespread speculation that some individuals in government knew of the hitherto pending terror attacks. To this end, Nixon has faced other legal issues, including charges related to unlawful detentions, murders and torture, but the events surrounding the 2010 bombings remain uninvestigated.
A Life in Ruins
Since that day, Thomas Mugalu’s life has never been the same. His once busy bar instantly shuttered under fear and financial strain. This stance, as he had to flee the country for his safety. “I first ran to Tanzania, then went to Colombo and after some years, I got tired of running and returned home.” Upon his return, he got arrested on unclear charges for over three months before he was released, uncharged.
Sick and frail, he now lives a quiet, almost invisible existence. Trust, business, and peace were all lost in the shadow of that afternoon conversation with Ahmed. “Sometimes I wonder, if I had stayed quiet, would people still have died?” he ponders… “But I spoke up. And instead of stopping it, they used me to cover it up.” Fifteen years later, he finally found the courage to speak. Not for fame, not for pity, but for truth, and perhaps, justice.
Author Profile
- Stanley Ndawula is a two and a half decades’ seasoned investigative journalist with a knack for serious crimes investigations and reporting. He’s the Founding Editorial Director and CEO at The Investigator Publications (U) Limited
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We lost Friends and relatives on interest of others,
In this life Time Tells,
Nixon if this is truth, face the law
This is great works of investigation..
Whoa! Speechless. Am convinced Nixon has many unknown other crimes including the late Afande Kirumira’s assassination.
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i think, all those related gun crimes of known prominent Ugandans, Nixon must have a hand i them, since he called himself the state and the state was him.
Nixon will be implicated in other unsolved murders during the time of Kayihura