Bunyoro loses case against Britain
Aug 23, 2005
BUNYORO Kingdom on Monday lost a high profile case it had brought against the British government.
By Stephen Muwambi
BUNYORO Kingdom on Monday lost a high profile case it had brought against the British government.
Spearheaded by 10 officials, including Kyabangi Katta Musoke and the kingdom’s publicist, Henry Ford Mirima, bunyoro accused the Queen’s government of granting Buganda Kingdom its two counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi.
Bunyoro also sought reparations for the deaths and mistreatment of its people and ‘theft’ of its natural resources, by British agents during colonial times.
Dismissing the case, the High Court’s Justice Richard Oscar Okumu-Wengi said the British government had refused to turn up for trial.
Britain’s counsel, Joseph Luswata, had argued that the case could not stand, after his client declined to submit to trial in a foreign land.
Luswata produced a November 25, 2004 letter, in which the British government communicated its refusal.
Okumu also said the Attorney General, who was sued with the British government, had not pleaded for the inclusion of Her Majesty’s government, for purposes of indemnity, in case Bunyoro won.
Bunyoro will now proceed against Buganda’s Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi 11, the 3,636 absentee landlords in Buyaga and Bugangaizi and the Attorney General.
BUNYORO Kingdom on Monday lost a high profile case it had brought against the British government.
Spearheaded by 10 officials, including Kyabangi Katta Musoke and the kingdom’s publicist, Henry Ford Mirima, bunyoro accused the Queen’s government of granting Buganda Kingdom its two counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi.
Bunyoro also sought reparations for the deaths and mistreatment of its people and ‘theft’ of its natural resources, by British agents during colonial times.
Dismissing the case, the High Court’s Justice Richard Oscar Okumu-Wengi said the British government had refused to turn up for trial.
Britain’s counsel, Joseph Luswata, had argued that the case could not stand, after his client declined to submit to trial in a foreign land.
Luswata produced a November 25, 2004 letter, in which the British government communicated its refusal.
Okumu also said the Attorney General, who was sued with the British government, had not pleaded for the inclusion of Her Majesty’s government, for purposes of indemnity, in case Bunyoro won.
Bunyoro will now proceed against Buganda’s Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi 11, the 3,636 absentee landlords in Buyaga and Bugangaizi and the Attorney General.