Wakilii

Letshego (U) Ltd and Aijukwe Germany Giles v Henry Lubulwa (Civil Suit No 510 of 2023)

High Court · [2026] UGHCCD 155 · 2026 Judgment for Plaintiffs AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for defamation proceeding ex parte after defendant failed to file defence or appear
Decision
Judgment entered for the Plaintiffs with damages, injunction, and order for public apology

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Held that the defendant's online publication falsely accusing the plaintiffs of illegally selling a borrower's mortgaged property and the CEO of fleeing the country was defamatory, lowering the plaintiffs' standing before right-thinking members of society. The court awarded general damages of UGX 50,000,000 for injury to reputation and exemplary damages of UGX 10,000,000 to deter reckless publication, and ordered an unqualified apology and permanent injunction against further defamatory publications on the same subject matter.

Outcome

Judgment entered for the Plaintiffs with damages, injunction, and order for public apology

Facts

The first plaintiff, a financial institution, extended a loan to Alex Niyonzima secured by a mortgage over his property at Kisasi Nakawa. Following default and despite multiple notices, the first plaintiff exercised its rights as mortgagee and sold the property to Betty Kyomuhendo in accordance with law. In January 2023, while the second plaintiff (the first plaintiff's CEO) was on official leave in the USA, the defendant, a journalist and editor of Entebbe Post, contacted him about allegations by Niyonzima of illegal sale. The second plaintiff explained the lawful sale process. On 27 January 2023, the defendant published an article titled 'Letshego CEO flees country after controversial sale of the borrower's property' on the Entebbe Post website and social media platforms, falsely alleging the plaintiffs illegally sold Niyonzima's property and that the CEO fled the country. The publication circulated widely, attracting negative public comments calling the first plaintiff fraudulent and thieves, and damaging both plaintiffs' reputations in the financial services industry.

Issues

  1. Whether the publication made by the defendant titled 'Letshego CEO flees country after controversial sale of the borrower's property' was defamatory of the Plaintiffs.
  2. What remedies are available to the parties.

Orders

  • Judgment entered for the Plaintiffs against the Defendant.
  • General damages awarded in the sum of UGX 50,000,000 to the Plaintiffs.
  • Exemplary damages awarded in the sum of UGX 10,000,000 to the Plaintiffs.
  • Defendant to issue an unqualified apology on Entebbe Post website and post it on all platforms on which the defamatory publication was published.
  • Permanent injunction restraining the Defendant from further publication of defamatory stories/publications connected to the subject matter of this suit.
  • Costs of the suit awarded to the Plaintiffs.

Rules and key headnotes

Defamation — Libel — Elements of Defamation
For a court to find a statement defamatory, the actual words must be set forth verbatim in the plaint, and the persons to whom publication was made must be mentioned in the plaint. The act of publishing a libelous matter constitutes the cause of action in libel; the material part of the cause of action is not the writing, but the publication of the libel.
Defamation — Test for Defamatory Meaning
The test for whether a statement is defamatory is whether the words would tend to lower the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally. The test is objective and it is no defence for the defendant to assert that the statement was not intended to be defamatory or was made by way of a joke.
Defamation — Professional Reputation
A statement is defamatory if it amounts to a reflection upon the fitness or capacity of the plaintiff in the plaintiff's profession, trade, or other undertaking. Where a publication affects the fitness and capacity of plaintiffs in their line of work, it is defamatory.
Defamation — Burden of Proof
In a suit for libel defamation, the plaintiff must prove that the relevant statement is defamatory and need not prove that the same was a lie. If a statement is defamatory, the court will simply assume it was untrue.
General Damages — Defamation
A person aggrieved by a defamatory statement is entitled to general damages for loss of reputation. General damages arise by inference of law and need not be proved by evidence if the words have been proved to be defamatory. They are awarded in the discretion of court in respect of what the law presumes to be the natural and probable consequence of the defendant's act.
Exemplary Damages — Defamation — Deterrent Purpose
Exemplary damages represent a sum of money of a penal nature in addition to compensatory damages. They are deterrent in nature and aimed at curbing the repeat of the offending act. They are given without reference to any proved actual loss suffered by the plaintiff. Where a defendant publishes defamatory statements recklessly despite being informed the allegations are untrue and fails to defend the action, exemplary damages are appropriate to deter repetition.
Costs — Costs Follow the Event
Section 27 of the Civil Procedure Act Cap 282 provides that costs follow the suit. The successful party is entitled to the costs of the suit.

Legislation cited (1)

Cases cited (8)

  • Yusuf Sembatya Kimbowa v The Editor Observer & 2 Others (High Court Civil Suit No. 482 of 2018)
  • Okwenda v Wadson (Civil Suit No. 55 of 2019)
  • Amuzie v Asonye (2011) 6 NWLR (pt 1242) p. 19
  • Okeny & 4 Others v Odok (Chief Magistrate's Court Suit No. 12 of 2009)
  • A. K. Oils & Fats (U) Ltd v Bidco Ug Ltd (High Court Civil Suit No. 715 of 2005)
  • Sim Vs Stretch [1936] 2 All ER 1237 AC
  • Macdosman W. Kabega v The Editor in Chief Bukedde Newspaper & The New Vision Printing and Publishing Company Limited (Civil Suit No. 426 of 2017)
  • WSO Davies Vs Mohanlal Karamshi Shah [1957] 1 EA 352

Full judgment

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

Letshego (U) Ltd and Aijukwe Germany Giles v Henry Lubulwa (Civil Suit No 510 of 2023) 2026 UGHCCD 155 (22 May 2026)
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.