Wakilii

Breaker & Partners of Uganda Ltd and Another v Attorney General (Civil Suit 125 of 2008)

High Court · [2009] UGCOMMC 162 · 2009 Suit Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Civil suit to enforce a tribunal judgment against the Attorney General after the expiry of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust, with defendant raising preliminary objection based on pending appeal
Decision
Suit dismissed with direction to plaintiffs to seek substitution of parties in the pending appeal

Observed later treatment

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 1 (treatment unverified) Sequitur — Uganda’s citator · Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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.

No adverse treatment recorded Cited 1 time with no adverse treatment recorded; not yet tested on the merits. Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — a deterministic signal, not legal advice.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

Held that the suit was covered by s.6 of the Civil Procedure Act as the same judgment was the subject of a pending appeal in which NPART, under whom the Government claimed, was a party. The appropriate course was to apply for substitution of parties in the appeal under Order 24 of the Civil Procedure Rules rather than file a fresh suit. The suit was dismissed with each party bearing its own costs.

Outcome

Suit dismissed with direction to plaintiffs to seek substitution of parties in the pending appeal

Facts

On 31 January 2005, the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Tribunal ordered the Non-Performing Assets Trust (NPART) to pay the plaintiffs Shs 273,000,000 plus taxed costs of Shs 18,336,000 for unlawful seizure and sale of property at Plot 26 Station Road, Lira. Before payment, the Trust expired. The plaintiffs filed suit against the Attorney General to recover the decretal sum, arguing that under s.3(a) of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust Act, the Trust acted on behalf of the Republic of Uganda and that upon its expiry the Government became liable for all the Trust's assets and liabilities. NPART and another had filed an appeal against the original Tribunal judgment, which remained pending as Civil Appeal No. 182 of 2007.

Issues

  1. Whether the suit should be stayed under s.6 of the Civil Procedure Act due to a pending appeal in the Court of Appeal
  2. Whether the appeal abated upon the statutory expiry of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust
  3. Whether the Government of the Republic of Uganda became liable for the assets and liabilities of the Trust upon its expiry

Orders

  • Suit dismissed.
  • Each party to bear its own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Stay of Proceedings — Section 6 Civil Procedure Act — Suit Pending Between Same Parties
Where a matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties or parties under whom they claim litigating under the same title, a court shall not proceed with the trial of the subsequent suit and must stay proceedings. This provision is mandatory.
Civil Procedure — Section 6 Civil Procedure Act — Parties Under Whom Claims Are Made
Where a plaintiff sues the Attorney General to enforce a judgment obtained against a trust that acted on behalf of the Government, and an appeal against that judgment is pending with the trust as appellant, the Government and Attorney General are parties claiming under the trust for purposes of s.6 of the Civil Procedure Act.
Civil Procedure — Substitution of Parties — Expiry of Statutory Body
Where a statutory body that is a party to an appeal expires and the Government is liable for its assets and liabilities, the appropriate course is to apply under Order 24 of the Civil Procedure Rules for substitution of the Attorney General as a party to the appeal rather than file a fresh suit to enforce the judgment.
Administrative Law — Statutory Bodies — Expiry and Succession of Liabilities
Where a trust holds assets on behalf of and for the benefit of the Republic of Uganda under statute, upon expiry of the trust the Government of the Republic of Uganda becomes liable for all the assets and liabilities of the trust by implication.

Legislation cited (3)

Cases citing this judgment (1)

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.

Full judgment

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

Breaker & Partners of Uganda Ltd and Another v Attorney General (Civil Suit 125 of 2008) [2009] UGCommC 162 (28 August 2009)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.