Red Pepper ownership row deepens
May 09, 2007
THE ownership row over the city tabloid The Red Pepper has deepened. Nkamuhayo Rwacumika and Denis Sabiiti, claiming to be the two majority shareholders, on Tuesday stormed the paper’s offices in Namanve, along the Kampala-Jinja highway, and tried to take over the management.
By Hillary Nsambu
THE ownership row over the city tabloid The Red Pepper has deepened. Nkamuhayo Rwacumika and Denis Sabiiti, claiming to be the two majority shareholders, on Tuesday stormed the paper’s offices in Namanve, along the Kampala-Jinja highway, and tried to take over the management.
The two allege that the other four shareholders had failed to pay them sh650m under agreements signed last month.
But the other shareholders, Richard Tusiime, James Mujuni, Patrick Mugumya and Arinitwe Rugyendo, blocked the take over by calling in the Police which arrested Rwacumika for “alleged trespass and impersonation.†Mukono Police yesterday declined to discuss the matter.
Tusiime and his group rushed to the High Court and secured a temporary order, barring Rwacumika and Sabiiti from taking over or entering into any transaction for sale of the paper’s shares.
But Rwacumika and Sabiiti have hit back. Through their lawyers, Lex Uganda, they issued a statement yesterday describing as “malicious and false†allegations published byThe Red Pepper referring to them as impostors.
According to the lawyers, on April 18, an agreement was signed under which Tusiime, Mujuni, Mugumya and Rugyendo, agreed to pay sh400m to Rwacumika and Sabiiti to buy them out of the company. It was further agreed that the minority shareholders would pay an additional sh250m to Rwacumika for “lost income.â€
“The minority shareholders failed to raise the money to buy the shares,†the lawyers explained. They said they also failed to honour the second agreement.
“It is against this background that the majority shareholders, in exercise of their powers as shareholders and directors, made some decisions and passed some resolutions including closing the bank accounts for the contingency of the business of the Red Pepper Publications Limited,†the lawyers explained.
“Now that the minority shareholders have decided to go to court, they should stick to the court process and await its outcome and stop pleading their case in the press,†they concluded.
The row over the paper ownership has been raging since early this year, when Rwacumika filed a case in the Commercial Court seeking to wind up the paper. The case is still pending.
At the same time, Tusiime, Mujuni, Rugyendo and Mugumya filed a counter suit on April 26, for the High Court to issue a declaration that Rwacumika and Sabiiti are no longer shareholders. They contend that Rwacumika and Sabiiti sold their shares to them.
The Red Pepper was registered on June 13, 2001, with Rwacumika owning 50% of the shares and the others each owning 10%.
THE ownership row over the city tabloid The Red Pepper has deepened. Nkamuhayo Rwacumika and Denis Sabiiti, claiming to be the two majority shareholders, on Tuesday stormed the paper’s offices in Namanve, along the Kampala-Jinja highway, and tried to take over the management.
The two allege that the other four shareholders had failed to pay them sh650m under agreements signed last month.
But the other shareholders, Richard Tusiime, James Mujuni, Patrick Mugumya and Arinitwe Rugyendo, blocked the take over by calling in the Police which arrested Rwacumika for “alleged trespass and impersonation.†Mukono Police yesterday declined to discuss the matter.
Tusiime and his group rushed to the High Court and secured a temporary order, barring Rwacumika and Sabiiti from taking over or entering into any transaction for sale of the paper’s shares.
But Rwacumika and Sabiiti have hit back. Through their lawyers, Lex Uganda, they issued a statement yesterday describing as “malicious and false†allegations published byThe Red Pepper referring to them as impostors.
According to the lawyers, on April 18, an agreement was signed under which Tusiime, Mujuni, Mugumya and Rugyendo, agreed to pay sh400m to Rwacumika and Sabiiti to buy them out of the company. It was further agreed that the minority shareholders would pay an additional sh250m to Rwacumika for “lost income.â€
“The minority shareholders failed to raise the money to buy the shares,†the lawyers explained. They said they also failed to honour the second agreement.
“It is against this background that the majority shareholders, in exercise of their powers as shareholders and directors, made some decisions and passed some resolutions including closing the bank accounts for the contingency of the business of the Red Pepper Publications Limited,†the lawyers explained.
“Now that the minority shareholders have decided to go to court, they should stick to the court process and await its outcome and stop pleading their case in the press,†they concluded.
The row over the paper ownership has been raging since early this year, when Rwacumika filed a case in the Commercial Court seeking to wind up the paper. The case is still pending.
At the same time, Tusiime, Mujuni, Rugyendo and Mugumya filed a counter suit on April 26, for the High Court to issue a declaration that Rwacumika and Sabiiti are no longer shareholders. They contend that Rwacumika and Sabiiti sold their shares to them.
The Red Pepper was registered on June 13, 2001, with Rwacumika owning 50% of the shares and the others each owning 10%.