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The High Court has ordered a landlord to pay over shillings 73 million to a tenant over wrongful termination of a tenancy agreement.

Justice Boniface Wamala ruled that Naome Kibaaju must compensate Evarest Banyenzaki, the proprietor of African Pot Restaurant located on Entebbe Road in Wakiso district, for special damages, general damages, interest, and costs incurred as a result of the unlawful termination.

“In all, therefore, the suit by the plaintiff succeeds and the counterclaim by the defendant fails. Judgment is entered for the plaintiff against the defendant for payment of the sum of shillings 43.2 million for special damages and shillings 30 million as general damages and interest at the rate of 18% per annum from the date of filing the suit until full payment,” Justice Wamala said.

Justice Wamala in a judgment dated February 14, 2024, says Banyenzaki was able to prove to the court that there was a running contract and provided evidence of various receipts to show that he was paying the monthly rent to Kibaaju.

“In the absence of any evidence by the defendant controverting the highlighted evidence by the plaintiff, I find the plaintiff’s evidence credible and reliable. Having believed the plaintiff's evidence to the effect that he kept paying rent after February 2017, there would have been no reason for the defendant to keep receiving rent if she did not intend the tenancy period beyond the agreed two years. In the circumstances, I have believed and found that the tenancy between the parties was ongoing at the time the alleged termination took place,” Justice Wamala said.

Justice Wamala stated that Kibaaju failed to establish any breach of contract on Banyenzaki's part, as she had claimed. The court ruled that Kibaaju's counterclaim lacked merit.

In her defence, Kibaaju had alleged that Banyenzaki owed her shillings 36 million in arrears for the period from February to November 2016.

However, Banyenzaki contended that he had entered into an agreement with Kibaaju on February 15, 2015, to rent her premises at Plot 9 Entebbe Road for shillings two million per month. He further stated that the contract was verbally renewed in January 2017. Banyenzaki asserted that at the time of terminating the contract in April 2017, he had already paid rent up to June 2017 and that there were no arrears.