Wakilii

Bukenya v Bukenya & 2 Others (Miscellaneous Application 497 of 2024)

High Court · [2024] UGHCFD 18 · 2024 Application Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for review of exparte order striking off applicant from Certificate of No Objection and granting Letters of Administration to respondents
Decision
Exparte order set aside. Respondents directed to surrender Letters of Administration. Land registration entries cancelled.

Observed later treatment

Treatment recorded in citing cases applied in 1 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.

Good law Followed in 0 cases and applied in 1 case, with no adverse treatment recorded. 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 applicant's signature on the petition for Letters of Administration was forged and the respondents made false representations that his whereabouts were unknown while concealing from court the existence of ongoing civil proceedings and the fact that they knew his location. The court found the applicant to be an aggrieved party whose right to be heard was infringed. The exparte order striking the applicant from the Certificate of No Objection was set aside, and the respondents were directed to surrender the Letters of Administration granted to them. The Commissioner Land Registration was directed to cancel all entries made pursuant to the flawed Letters of Administration.

Outcome

Exparte order set aside. Respondents directed to surrender Letters of Administration. Land registration entries cancelled.

Facts

The parties are siblings and beneficiaries of the estate of the Late Zakaria Bukenya. A Certificate of No Objection was issued on 8 December 2021 naming four siblings including the applicant Bukenya Twaha. The respondents filed Miscellaneous Application No. 70 of 2024 seeking to strike off the applicant from the Certificate of No Objection and have Letters of Administration issued to them alone. They alleged the applicant had disappeared to the USA with relevant documents and had intermeddled with the estate. The application proceeded exparte without service on the applicant and was granted on 25 January 2024. The respondents subsequently began transferring estate properties. The applicant filed this review application contending his signature on the petition for Letters of Administration was forged, he was never served, and the respondents knew his whereabouts and had concealed from court the existence of Civil Suit No. 156 of 2023 which they had filed against him in May 2023. Evidence showed the applicant and the second respondent both resided in Maryland, USA, approximately 10 kilometres apart.

Issues

  1. Whether the applicant is an aggrieved party entitled to seek review of the exparte order.
  2. Whether the applicant is entitled to the reliefs sought, namely vacation of the order striking him off the Certificate of No Objection and setting aside the Letters of Administration granted to respondents.

Orders

  • Miscellaneous Application No. 70 of 2024 arising from Administration Cause No. 919 of 2023 set aside and orders therein vacated.
  • Citation issued directing respondents to surrender and deliver to court the Letters of Administration and all certified copies granted on 25 January 2024 within 2 days.
  • Order striking off applicant from Certificate of No Objection vacated and set aside.
  • Letters of Administration granted in Miscellaneous Application No. 70 of 2024 set aside.
  • Commissioner Land Registration directed to cancel all entries on Kyadondo Block 197 Plots 174, 175 and 868 entered on behalf of respondents as administrators.
  • Commissioner Land Registration directed to cancel all entries on any registered land transferred by administrators under Administration Cause No. 919 of 2023.
  • Costs awarded to the applicant.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Review — Grounds — Fraud and Material Non-Disclosure
Where a party obtains an exparte order by making false representations that the affected party's whereabouts are unknown, forging that party's signature on supporting documents, and concealing from court the existence of ongoing litigation involving the same party, the court has sufficient grounds under Order 46 Rule 1 of the Civil Procedure Rules to review and set aside the order.
Succession & Estates — Letters of Administration — Grant Obtained by Fraud — Effect
Letters of Administration obtained through fraud, including by forging the signature of a co-administrator and making material misrepresentations to the court, will be set aside on review, and the administrators will be directed to surrender the grant and all certified copies to the court.
Civil Procedure — Natural Justice — Right to be Heard — Service
Where a party is struck off a Certificate of No Objection and removed as an administrator without effective service and without being afforded an opportunity to be heard, that party's constitutional right to a fair hearing under Article 28 of the Constitution is infringed, constituting sufficient reason for review under Order 46 Rule 1 of the Civil Procedure Rules.
Succession & Estates — Administration of Estates — Fraudulent Transfers — Cancellation of Land Registration Entries
Where Letters of Administration are set aside due to fraud, the Commissioner Land Registration may be directed to cancel all entries on registered land made pursuant to the flawed Letters of Administration, including transfers to third parties arising out of the void grant.

Legislation cited (7)

Cases cited (3)

  • Re Nakivubo Chemist (U) Ltd [1979] HCB 12
  • Chhajju Ram v Neki (1922) 49 I.A 144
  • Yusuf v Nokrach [1971] EA 104

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.

Bukenya v Bukenya & 2 Others (Miscellaneous Application 497 of 2024) [2024] UGHCFD 18 (22 April 2024)
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.