Appearing before the House Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), Friday, the top brass of the technical wing of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) held a blank sheet where it should have answers. KCCA was deemed to have delivered an exceptionally fragile mandate insofar as calling Hamis Kiggundu to order. Backed by a 2 August 2025 letter from President Museveni, Kiggundu, through his Ki-Ham Enterprises entity, has been undertaking excavation and demolition works in and around the Nakivubo Drainage Channel. Led by its Deputy Executive Director, Benon Kigenyi, KCCA’s technical wing took no more than a 20 August 2025 letter to COSASE as proof that it was cracking the whip on Ki-Ham Enterprises. The letter, no less received by Ham Enterprises, asked Kiham Enterprises to “stop activities with immediate effect.” It noted that while an “innovative, futuristic proposal” had been floated, such an undertaking “requires a multidimensional assessment with multi agencies’ inputs given the considerable ecological, social, and infrastructural impact on the locality and larger jurisdictional territory of Kampala and the neighbourhoods.” The letter also registered the Authority’s displeasure that, while its physical planning committee was carrying out a feasibility study, “preliminary works, including excavations and demolitions have been undertaken without appropriate guidance and permissions for statutory guidance and due considerations of project affected persons.” The House Committee was equally displeased as much with Ham’s brazenness and disregard of set procedures as the tenor of a letter purported to wave a red flag. Dismay was expressed at the fact that while there was no allocation of land (the drainage channel squats on land belonging to KCCA), submission of a plan, and approval, KCCA was in a sense instructing Kiham Enterprises on work methods that comply with best practices. With just the surface scratched, KCCA was ordered to return to the House Committee on Tuesday, this time with members of the political wing—led by Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago—tagging along. The interior ministers—both senior and junior—and Inspector General of Police were also summoned, not least because members from Uganda’s security apparatus have been offering a protective sheath to Kiggundu’s team that is undertaking the impugned construction works in downtown Kampala. Kiggundu will, for good measure, be expected to make an appearance before COSASE on Tuesday.
A coram of three Court of Appeal (CoA) judges unanimously ruled on Friday that jurist Musa Ssekaana, then the High Court’s Civil Division head honcho, applied the law erroneously in regard to the registration of business names of partnerships. In his 2022 ruling, Justice Ssekaana averred that Vantage Mezzanine Fund II, a South African lender, cannot open legal proceedings against a party in Uganda because it had no green light to do so. The jurist held back then that “the locus standi or standing to sue in a partnership name should be by mandatory registration under the Partnership Act and Business Names Registration Act which set out the regulatory framework for partnerships in Uganda.” The parties had ended up in court after the South African lender sought—through the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB)—to have property of Ugandan businessman Patrick Bitature transferred on account of defaulting on paying a loan facility worth $26 million. In her lead judgment, supported by fellow CoA judges, Fredrick Egonda-Ntende and Eva K. Luswata, Justice Esta Nambayo ruled thus: “In my view, a foreign lender who advances a loan facility to a local company or any local person without establishing himself/herself on the ground in Uganda, cannot be said to have established a place of business that requires registration within the meaning of the Partnership Act and/or the Business Names Registration Act.” The legal setback suffered in the CoA puts a string of Bitature’s commercial properties on the line. These include: Simba Properties Limited; shares in Simba Properties Investment Company Limited; Elgon Terrace Hotel Limited; and Linda Properties Limited.
After sitting for two days, between August 20-21, granular details of what emerged from a high-stakes meeting of the National Resistance Movement or NRM’s top organ—the Central Executive Committee (CEC)—cast an unvarnished light on the divisions plaguing the ruling party. The battle for the powerful Second National Vice Chairperson (women) position proved to be emblematic of old and festering grievances within the party. Despite the intervention of President Museveni in a bid to ensure that delegates at the forthcoming National Conference (NC) will throw their weight one candidate, incumbent Rebecca Kadaga and Anita Among made clear their intention not to pull any punches. In fact, only the top two CEC positions held by President Museveni (National Chairperson) and Moses Kigongo (First National Vice Chairperson) will go opposed at the NC on August 28. The Vice Chairperson position for Western Region has the most number of aspirants. Seven of them intend to unseat incumbent Chris Baryomunsi. These don’t include Nzaire Sedrack Nowomugisha, President Museveni’s brother, who was reportedly convinced to step down as Uganda’s head of state since 1986 battles to shrug off growing accusations of patronage. It is, however, the position of Second National Vice Chairperson (women) that is bound to turn heads. Kadaga, who is also the First Deputy Prime Minister, has indicated that she intends to pull all the stops to beat Among, the current House Speaker, to the plum role. Subplots couched in battle that both female politicians have been sucked into in Kadaga’s native sub-region of Busoga, where Among is married, show that there is no love lost between the two.