The Court of Appeal presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Buteera Richard, Lady Justice Irene Mulyagonja, and Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire on Thursday issue an injunction on the auction of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) property including old Kampala mosque.
The decision comes just before the scheduled auction set for December 21, 2023.
The Court’s ruling highlighted irregularities in the attachment of UMSC’s properties, citing malpractice and a lack of due diligence by Justus Kyabahwa’s legal representatives.
The case was characterized by the absence of a prior property evaluation. This lack of assessment raised concerns about the validity of any potential property sale to settle the debt.
UMSC’s legal team, led by Counsel Musa Kabega and Counsel Dr. Adam Kibwanga Makmot, along with other counsels, presented their case. Notably, Justus Kyabahwa’s representatives were absent during the proceedings.
Among the attendees were Hon. Counsel Haj Muhammad Ali Aluma, Deputy Secretary-General for Finance and Administration, and Counsel Bunyasin Ibrahim, the UMSC legal officer.
On June 24, UMSC acting through Mugalu, Mubaje, and Abdulkadir Idi Balonde, the former chairperson who has since died, sold two square miles of land to businessman Justus Kyabahwa at 3.584 billion Shillings.
In the agreement that they signed, they agreed to transfer the ownership of the land to the businessman within 150 days failure of which they would refund the money at 12 percent interest per month.
However, the land already had a 15-year lease with Enterprise Holding Services ending in 2028. Therefore, UMSC was not only unable to transfer the land but also to refund the money leading to its accumulation to the current 19 billion Shillings.
In August, the High Court gave a no-objection order to the attachment of several UMSC properties to enable Kyabahwa to recover his money.
Among the property attached include; land at William Street Kampala, land at Old Kampala plot 23 to 25 comprising the National Mosque, land at Kyanja, one square mile of Land at Bukwe, Hoima, one acre of land located at Lubas Road Jinja, Plot of land at Mbale City, Shares in Uganda Ranches Limited and Commercial Holding Ltd, two square miles of land at Migyera in Buluri and plot of land in Entebbe opposite Victoria Mall.