Wakilii

Kampala Capital City Authority v Moses Kalungi (Miscellaneous Application 2706 of 2024)

High Court · [2025] UGCOMMC 150 · 2025 Application Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to correct respondent's name and add parties to existing miscellaneous cause for recovery of property rates
Decision
Application granted; respondent's name corrected and two companies added as additional respondents to the underlying miscellaneous cause

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

The High Court held that the use of the name Moses Kalungi instead of Kalungi Moses Kirumira was a curable misnomer where the respondent used the names interchangeably and was aware of the proceedings. The court corrected the respondent's name and added Kalungi Estates Limited and K.J Company Limited as parties, as they were current registered proprietors of properties subject to the property rates claim and their presence was necessary for complete adjudication.

Outcome

Application granted; respondent's name corrected and two companies added as additional respondents to the underlying miscellaneous cause

Facts

KCCA filed Miscellaneous Cause No. 37 of 2023 against Moses Kalungi seeking to recover UGX 80,283,543.69 in property rates for four properties registered in that name at the time of valuation in 2017. After filing, KCCA discovered the respondent's full name was Kalungi Moses Kirumira and that he used multiple name variations interchangeably. The respondent subsequently requested changes to the registered ownership of two properties to Kalungi Estates Limited and K.J Company Limited, companies in which he was a director and shareholder. KCCA applied to correct the respondent's name and add the two companies as parties. The respondent opposed, arguing Moses Kalungi was a non-existent party and the suit was incurably defective.

Issues

  1. Whether the misnomer in filing Miscellaneous Cause No. 37 of 2023 can be cured?
  2. Whether it is necessary and proper to add Kalungi Estates Limited and K.J Company Limited as Respondents in Miscellaneous Cause No. 37 of 2023?
  3. What remedies are available to the parties?

Orders

  • The Applicant is directed to amend Miscellaneous Cause No. 37 of 2023 to reflect the correct name of the Respondent as Kalungi Moses Kirumira.
  • The Applicant is granted leave to add Kalungi Estates Limited and K.J Company Limited as the 2nd and 3rd Respondents in Miscellaneous Cause No. 37 of 2023.
  • The Applicant shall file and serve the amended application to all the Respondents within twenty-one (21) days from the date of this Ruling.
  • The added Respondents shall file and serve their affidavits in reply within twenty (20) days after receipt of the amended application and an affidavit in rejoinder to be filed within fourteen (14) days after receipt of the affidavits in reply.
  • Costs of this application shall be in the cause.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Misnomer — Correction of Party Names — Reasonable Reader Test
A misnomer in naming a party can be cured by amendment where a reasonable reader receiving the document would say 'Of course it must mean me, but they have got my name wrong' rather than being unable to tell from the document whether it refers to them. The test is objective: what would a reasonable person reading the document understand it to mean, not what the writer intended.
Civil Procedure — Misnomer — Interchangeable Use of Names — Curable Error
Where a party uses multiple variations of their name interchangeably in correspondence and official documents, and was aware that proceedings were directed at them despite the name variation used, the use of one name variation instead of another constitutes a curable misnomer rather than a suit against a non-existent party.
Civil Procedure — Addition of Parties — Necessary Parties for Complete Adjudication
A party may be joined to a suit not because there is a cause of action against them, but because their presence is necessary to enable the court to effectually and completely adjudicate upon and settle all questions involved in the suit. Where orders sought would legally affect a person's interests, it is desirable to join them to avoid multiplicity of suits.
Tax Law — Property Rates — Liability of Registered Owner
Under the Local Governments (Rating) Act, the person liable for payment of property rates is the owner of the property. Where registered ownership of properties changes after valuation but before final determination, the current registered proprietors must be joined as parties to enable complete adjudication of liability.

Legislation cited (14)

Cases cited (11)

  • Oriental Insurance Brokers Limited v Transocean (U) Limited (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 55 of 1995)
  • Uganda Telecom Ltd v ZTE Corporation (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 3 of 2017)
  • Namutebi Matilda v Ssemanda Simon and 2 Others (Miscellaneous Application No. 430 of 2021)
  • AC Yefeng Construction Limited v The Registered Trustees of Living Word Assembly Church & Another (High Court Miscellaneous Application No. 01 of 2021)
  • Davies Vs Elsby Brothers Ltd [1960] 3 All ER 672
  • The Board of Trustees Rubaga Miracle Center v Mulangira Ssimbwa (High Court Miscellaneous Application No. 576 of 2006)
  • Sabric International Limited v Attorney General (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 30 of 2020)
  • Departed Asians Property Custodian Board v Jaffer Brothers Ltd (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 9 of 1998)
  • Kololo Curing Co. Ltd Vs West Mengo Co-op Union Ltd [1981] HCB 60
  • Yahaya Kariisa v Attorney General & Another (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 7 of 1994)
  • Amon Vs Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd [1956]1 All E.R

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.

Kampala Capital City Authority v Moses Kalungi (Miscellaneous Application 2706 of 2024) [2025] UGCommC 150 (25 April 2025)
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.