Bakoma Ruth Nabirye v Iganga District Administration (Civil Suit No. 53 of 2005)

Observed later treatment

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The High Court found that the defendant District Administration unlawfully retired 94 parish chiefs without notice, compensation or terminal benefits. Despite multiple opportunities to defend the case and compute what was owed, the defendant failed to engage meaningfully. The court awarded the plaintiffs UGX 1,217,945,126 being gratuity, pension arrears, six months payment in lieu of notice, salary arrears and transport costs plus interest and taxed costs.

Outcome

Judgment entered for the plaintiffs with damages, interest and costs awarded

Facts

The 94 plaintiffs were employed as parish chiefs by Iganga District Administration on permanent and pensionable terms. When Government policy raised the standard for chiefs, the defendant decided the plaintiffs were no longer fit to hold their jobs and terminated their services without notice, compensation or payment of terminal benefits. The plaintiffs filed suit on 10 June 2005. The defendant filed a written statement of defence on 25 October 2006 admitting the retirements but contending they were lawfully done through the District Service Commission. On 21 January 2009 the court proposed that the defendant compute all benefits due within two months for a consent judgment, which both parties agreed to. Despite repeated adjournments, the defendant never filed the consent judgment or computations. The plaintiffs obtained leave to engage Clayton & Co. Certified Public Accountants who prepared computations totaling UGX 1,217,945,126. The defendant's counsel failed to appear for the final hearing on 18 April 2011.

Issues

1. What amount of money is due to the plaintiffs?
2. Whether the defendant is liable to pay the amounts due to the plaintiffs?

Orders

• Judgment entered in favour of the plaintiffs.
• The defendant to pay the plaintiffs UGX 1,217,945,126 as set out in Exhibit P.1, less any amounts already paid to individual plaintiffs.
• Interest awarded on the total sums due at court rate from the date of judgment until payment in full.
• Costs of the suit awarded to the plaintiffs to be taxed.
• Interest awarded on taxed costs at court rate from the date of judgment until payment in full.

Rules and key headnotes

Cases citing this judgment (2)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

• Bakoomba Ruth Nabirye and Another v DFCU Bank Limited (Miscellaneous Application No. 24 of 2025)
• Iganga District Local Government v Bakooma & Anor (MISC. APPLICATION NO 113 OF 2015)

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.