Legal Brains Trust (LBT) Ltd v Attorney General (Civil Application No. 56 of 2023)

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 applicant sought a temporary injunction restraining government from implementing the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System pending its appeal against the High Court's refusal of a similar order. Sitting as a single justice, the Court of Appeal held that although the applicant had established a prima facie case by setting out the questions to be determined on appeal, it had not shown irreparable damage, since the inconvenience of acquiring new number plates was ascertainable and compensable in damages. The balance of convenience favoured the respondent because granting the injunction would effectively determine the pending appeal. The application was dismissed, with costs to abide the outcome of the appeal.

Outcome

Application for a temporary injunction pending appeal dismissed

Facts

The applicant filed Miscellaneous Cause No. 225 of 2021 in the High Court challenging presidential directives, cabinet resolutions and agreements through which the Government of Uganda engaged a Russian company, Joint Stock Company Global Security, to execute the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS) — a programme of compulsory digital surveillance of all motor vehicles and motorcycles — alleging violation of fundamental rights. It also applied for a temporary injunction (HCMA No. 532 of 2021), which the High Court dismissed on 7 February 2023 as devoid of merit. The applicant filed a notice of appeal the same day, lodged Civil Appeal No. 88 of 2023, and applied to the Court of Appeal for a temporary injunction restraining implementation of the ITMS pending the appeal. The respondent opposed, asserting the ITMS is a security system necessitated by rising crime and that implementation, in its final stages, would only require vehicle owners to obtain new digitally enabled number plates.

Issues

1. Whether the applicant established a prima facie case with a probability of success on the appeal.
2. Whether the applicant would suffer irreparable damage, or the appeal be rendered nugatory, if the temporary injunction were refused.
3. Whether the balance of convenience favoured granting the temporary injunction pending appeal.

Orders

• The application is dismissed.
• The costs of this application shall abide the outcome of the appeal.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (16)

• Judicature Act s.10
• Judicature Act s.11
• Judicature Act s.12(1)
• Judicature Act s.33
• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions r.2(2)
• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions r.6(2)(b)
• Judicature (Court of Appeal Rules) Directions r.44(1)
• Constitution of Uganda art.21(1)
• Constitution of Uganda art.24
• Constitution of Uganda art.27
• Constitution of Uganda art.28(1)
• Constitution of Uganda art.38
• Constitution of Uganda art.40(2)
• Constitution of Uganda art.43
• Constitution of Uganda art.44(a)
• Constitution of Uganda art.45

Cases cited (4)

• Shiv Construction v Endesha Enterprises Ltd (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 34 of 1992)
• Osman Kasim v Century Bottling Company Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 34 of 2019)
• American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975] 1 All ER 504
• Jayendrakumar Devchand Devani v Haridas Vallabhdas Bhadresa & Anor (Civil Appeal No. 21 of 1971)

Cases citing this judgment (5)

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.

• Ntambara v Segawole (Civil Application 52 of 2025)
• Mubiru Kizito v African Forward Christian Ministries (Civil Application 300 of 2023)
• Twelve Sports Rounds Limited v Manirola & Another (Miscellaneous Application 2227 of 2024)
• Kanyesigye & Another v Uganda National Students Association & 2 Others (Miscellaneous Application 1173 of 2023)
• Legal Brains Trust (LBT) Ltd v Attorney General (Civil Miscellaneous Application 56 of 2023)

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