BMK successor loses bid to block sale of multi-billion property

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The executor of the estate of the late Bulaimu Muwanga Kibirige popularly known as BMK has lost a bid to block the sale of the multi-billion property in Makindye.

The property, worth shillings 10 billion, comprised on block 273 plot 46 Mulambula Road, is located at Buziga in Makindye division, Kampala district.

In his petition dated March 16, 2021, Ali Kibirige Muwanga, the executor of the deceased’s will, said he had run out of time to appeal against the court decision, since the property advertised for sale on February 15, 2023, was to be sold in one month.

This prompted Muwanga to seek an extension of time to apply for leave to appeal against a High Court ruling dismissing his objector proceedings, where he had challenged the attachment and sale of land claimed as part of the estate of the late BMK.

He argued that his former lawyers failed to advise him on the legal requirements for seeking leave to appeal against the ruling, leading to the delay.

Why the decision?

However, the Court of Appeal justices Cheborion Barishaki, Christopher Gashirabake and Dr Asa Mugenyi dismissed the applicant’s case after finding him guilty of dilatory conduct, inordinate delay coupled with an abuse of court process.

“We decline to exercise our discretion to grant an extension of time,” Barishaki stated in a ruling dated February 18, 2025.

The justices said if Muwanga had diligently followed up his instructions as claimed, he would have discovered that his intended appeal had not been filed for a period of 11 months and seven days.

The ruling implies that Yako Bank Ltd is at liberty to sell the multi-billion property to recover its debt.

BMK passed away on September 10, 2021, at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, after battling cancer for long. After his demise, Ali Muwanga was granted letters of probate to manage his estate.

Application dismissed

On March 14, 2023, Commercial Court judge Stephen Mubiru dismissed Muwanga’s ex-parte application on grounds that he failed to adduce evidence necessary to raise a presumption of the fact of possession in his own right unless rebutted or disproven by the bank.

The judge delivered the ruling in the presence of Ali Kibirige’s lawyers Adam Kirumira, Gilbert Ssekonge and Hamza Sebuta and Counsel Nelson Ainebyoona representing the bank.

“The evidence is not enough to support the validity of the assertions made by the applicant, even before it can be subjected to challenge or rebuttal by the bank,” he said.

According to the judge, the evidence before court is not sufficient to establish, with the minimum degree of certainty required that the property in Makindye constitutes part of the estate of the late BMK.

Mubiru also said it is insufficient to support assertion that at the time of attachment of the property, it was in the possession of Muwanga, BMK’s successor.

“Ali Kibirige has not adduced any credible evidence of documents which the ordinary course of business serves as proof of possession and which would enable the possessor to possess the property as owner. For all intents and purposes, this property at the time of attachment was in the name of the judgement debtor and therefore attachable in execution of a decree against him,” he ruled.