Wakilii

Busoga Kingdom v Multicom Technical Services Ltd (MISCELLANEOUS APPLN N0. 572 OF 2016)

High Court · [2018] UGHCCD 115 · 2018 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to set aside consent judgment entered in Civil Suit No. 223 of 2014
Decision
Consent judgment of 23 April 2015 remains in force; application to set it aside dismissed

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court dismissed the application to set aside a consent judgment. The applicant failed to prove fraud, failing to establish that all contractual payments had been made or that counsel lacked authority to enter the consent. The Court held that absent proof of fraud, mistake, or misapprehension, a consent judgment must be upheld.

Outcome

Consent judgment of 23 April 2015 remains in force; application to set it aside dismissed

Facts

Busoga Kingdom applied to set aside a consent judgment entered on 23 April 2015 in Civil Suit No. 223 of 2014, under which it agreed to pay Multicom Technical Services Ltd UGX 106,156,121. The Kingdom claimed fraud, alleging that Bujagali Energy Limited had already paid the respondent USD 100,000 to cover all construction costs for the Busoga Cultural Centre. The Kingdom also claimed its counsel and representative (Issabalangira Juma Munulo) lacked authority to enter the consent. The respondent contended that the BEL funds did not cover bills of quantities, structural and architectural designs, or labour costs, which were the subject of a separate memorandum of understanding dated 30 January 2012 requiring the Kingdom to pay 18% for design work and 25% for labour. Documentary evidence showed payments totalling UGX 178,339,370 made to the respondent, but the crucial Annex 1 detailing the breakdown of BEL's USD 100,000 allocation was not attached. The Kingdom did not file a rejoinder or prove that counsel lacked authority.

Issues

  1. Whether the consent judgment entered on 23 April 2015 should be set aside on grounds of fraud.
  2. Whether Counsel Ngobi Baliddawa Moses had authority to represent Busoga Kingdom when the consent judgment was entered.
  3. Whether the respondent fraudulently obtained the consent judgment by claiming amounts already paid by Bujagali Energy Limited.

Orders

  • Application dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Setting Aside Consent Judgments — Grounds
A consent judgment may only be set aside if it was obtained by fraud, collusion, mistake, misapprehension or ignorance of material facts, an agreement contrary to court policy, or for a reason that would enable a court to set aside an agreement.
Civil Procedure — Setting Aside Consent Judgments — Burden of Proof
The party seeking to set aside a consent judgment bears the burden of proving, on a balance of probabilities, the existence of fraud, mistake, or other vitiating factor.
Civil Procedure — Setting Aside Consent Judgments — Authority of Counsel
Where a consent judgment is entered in the presence of counsel for a party, that party bears the burden of proving that counsel lacked authority to represent them; mere assertion is insufficient.
Contract Law — Construction Contracts — Multiple Funding Sources
Where a construction project is funded by different sources under separate memoranda of understanding, payments made under one memorandum do not necessarily discharge obligations arising under another memorandum covering different cost heads.

Legislation cited (1)

Cases cited (4)

  • Attorney General and Another v James Mark Kamoga and Another (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 8 of 2004)
  • Hirani vs. Kassam (supra)
  • Brooke Bond Liebig (T) Ltd. vs. Mallya (supra)
  • Mohamed Allibhai v W.E. Bukenya and Another (Civil Appeal No. 56 of 1996)

Full judgment

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

Busoga Kingdom v Multicom Technical Services Ltd (MISCELLANEOUS APPLN N0. 572 OF 2016) [2018] UGHCCD 115 (21 June 2018)
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.