UGANDA, Masaka | Real Muloodi News | The Magistrates Court in Masaka has ruled that Laetitia Nakimbugwe, a mistress involved in a property dispute with former Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, does not have rights over his real estate fortune.
Ms Nakimbugwe had been dragged to court by one Victoria Nawangi, whom Mr Ssekandi had appointed as an administrator of his properties.
Ms Nawangi challenged Ms Nakimbugwe’s powers to collect rent from tenants occupying a commercial building on Plot 14 Edward Avenue. She also accused Ms Nakimbugwe of failing to pay 3 million Shillings covering six months in rent for the space she was occupying in the same building.
However, Ms Nakimbugwe asserts through her attorneys Mbabaali Jude & Co. and Odek & Co. that she cohabited with Mr Ssekandi for 25 years, during which time she gave birth to two girls by him who are now and 18 and 20 years old.
Furthermore, Ms Nakimbugwe claims that during their relationship, the couple acquired many properties together, with some of the proceeds set aside to help their children, including funding their studies in the United Kingdom (UK).
Plots 14 Edward Avenue, 17 Alexander Drive, and Plot 763 block 257 at Munyonyo, Kampala are amoung the properties that Ms Nakimbugwe says she and Mr Ssekandi jointly hold.
Through her lawyers, Ms Nakimbugwe says the building on Plot 14 Edward Avenue had been under her management until recently, when she was informed by ‘her tenants’ that they had been served with a notice informing them of changes in the management of the building. The notice dated January 10, 2022 was issued from M/S Ssekandi & Co. Advocates.
“That through a letter dated January 10, 2022 signed by yourself, a one Victoria Ssekandi, introduced herself to the said tenants requiring them to deposit rent on her personal account and was also requiring them to sign new tenancy agreements or be evicted. What shocked our client to the marrows is the fact that you even included the said residential home at Nyanama in which you have continued to cohabit with her as part of the properties from which the said Victoria Ssekandi must collect rent,” Ms Nakimbugwe’s lawyers wrote in an August 31 letter to Mr Ssekandi.
However, Ms Nakimbugwe failed to prove before the trial magistrate her alleged co-partnership of the property, or her authority to manage and collect rent from the tenants residing there. Whereas Ms Nawangi presented documents before the court proving powers of administration from Mr Ssekandi, as the registered owner of the said property.
Based on the lack of evidence to ascertain Ms Nakimbugwe’s co-ownership of the property, on September 7, 2022, Masaka Grade One Magistrate Peter Mugisha Ahumuza ruled that Ms Nakimbugwe has no powers over the said property. Accordingly, Magistrate Mugisha instructed her to pay rent like other tenants.
He added that the management of the commercial building, including the collection of rent fees, should be vested in the authority of Victoria Nawangi, as the rightful administrator of Mr Ssekandi’s property.
Magistrate Mugisha further ruled that several other tenants who have occupied the property since 2016 while paying their rent to Ms Nakimbugwe “should equally pay their due arrears to the person [Victoria Nawangi] who was granted the powers of administration.”
Ms Nakimbugwe and Mr Ssekandi are also fighting over properties on Plot 17 Alexander Drive in Masaka, and Plot 763 block 257 in Munyonyo, Kampala, for which Ms Nakimbugwe had instituted a civil suit in the High Court Family Division in Kampala to challenge their ownership.
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