By KAMPALA: Relief and cautious optimism have swept through the family of businessman Mohan Kiwanuka following indications that the Supreme Court will dismiss an application filed by his second wife, Maria Nabasirye Kiwanuka, challenging a Court of Appeal decision on the management of his estate.
According to a source at the highest court, the Chief Justice and other Supreme Court judges have agreed to uphold the lower court’s ruling after reviewing the history of the legal battles within the Kiwanuka family. The judges concur that both of Mr. Kiwanuka’s wives, Maria and Beatrice, and their children should be recognized as beneficiaries of the estate and included in its management.
When Justice Flavian Zeija was appointed Chief Justice earlier this year, members of Mohan Kiwanuka’s family—particularly his siblings and children from his first marriage to Beatrice Kavuma Kiwanuka—welcomed the development. Zeija had presided over the early stages of the case as Principal Judge and is therefore familiar with the substance of the dispute over control and management of Kiwanuka’s assets.
The family believes the Supreme Court will affirm the Court of Appeal ruling, which directed that all of Mohan Kiwanuka’s children participate in managing his estate and be granted access to their ailing father.
Following Zeija’s appointment, Mohan Kiwanuka’s children, led by eldest son Jordan Ssebuliba, held a closed-door meeting with their legal team and select media contacts to review strategy as the case proceeds in the Supreme Court. Maria Kiwanuka has petitioned the court to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision.
That ruling removed businessman Mohan Kiwanuka from control of his multimillion-shilling business interests after the courts accepted medical evidence of his mental decline. It also paved the way for a new family-led management arrangement.
According to a source close to the proceedings, news of Justice Zeija’s appointment unsettled Maria Kiwanuka. As Principal Judge, Zeija had issued the initial order declaring Mr. Kiwanuka mentally unfit and granting his children access to him. The order followed an admission by Mr. Kiwanuka’s longtime lawyer and company secretary, Francis Buwule, that his client was mentally incapacitated.
In May last year, the Court of Appeal upheld that position, ruling that Mohan Musisi Kiwanuka was mentally unfit to manage his affairs due to advanced Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and stripped him of control over his estate.
Court of Appeal Cites Irregularity in High Court Proceedings
The appellate court’s decision also addressed concerns over the conduct of the High Court trial. The justices found that High Court Civil Division head Justice Musa Ssekana had held a private meeting with Mohan Kiwanuka at the Golden Tulip Hotel before delivering judgment. The meeting, which lasted 30 minutes with lawyers present and an additional 15 minutes without them, was not placed on the court record.
Ssekana had ruled that there was no evidence Kiwanuka was of unsound mind, lacked care and treatment, or posed a danger to himself or others. He concluded that subjecting Kiwanuka to a forced mental examination would violate his rights and that the case had been brought in bad faith.
Jordan Ssebuliba appealed the ruling, arguing that Ssekana had erred in both law and procedure in assessing Kiwanuka’s mental capacity. He maintained that his father was suffering from dementia and could not manage his affairs.
Justices Cheborion Barishaki, Christopher Gashirabake, and Dr. Asa Mugenyi quashed Ssekana’s decision and ordered a comprehensive audit of Kiwanuka’s accounts. The court found that Kiwanuka had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia since 2017 and was therefore incapable of managing his affairs.
Family Rift at the Center of the Dispute
The case has exposed a long-running rift between Mohan Kiwanuka’s first wife, Beatrice Kavuma Kiwanuka, and her children, and his second wife, Maria Nabasirye Kiwanuka, and her children.
Mr. Kiwanuka has four children, including Ssebuliba, with his first wife Beatrice Kavuma, and another three, including Nsereko Kyamu Kiwanuka (RIP), with Maria, whom he married later. His sisters and some of his children contend that Ms. Maria and her son Edin Musisi had assumed powers of attorney to control the tycoon’s vast business interests. They allege that he was not mentally stable to make informed decisions and that Ms. Maria was taking advantage of his incapacitated state to either sell or transfer properties to her children’s names.
So far, notable properties that Maria is said to have sold off include 50 acres of land in Sonde, prime property on Nakasero Hill, and part of the family burial grounds in Kiwatule, all worth hundreds of billions of shillings.
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal ordered a full audit of all transactions involving Mohan Kiwanuka’s estate since 2017. The court directed that all persons who had managed his assets, including Maria Kiwanuka and other family members, account for funds from property sales, rental income, loans, mortgages, and asset disposals.
“The family must convene within 30 days to appoint a new estate manager. Should they fail, the court will appoint one,” the judgment stated.
Maria Kiwanuka, acting on legal advice, declined to implement the ruling and instead petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn it. The Supreme Court is now expected to issue a ruling that could bring the matter to a close
