Wakilii

Mbarara City Truck Owners Drivers and Loaders Cooperative Limited v Mbarara City Council [2025] UGPPDPAAT 4

Tribunal · 2025 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Miscellaneous application for contempt arising from alleged non-compliance with Tribunal orders in procurement appeal
Decision
Contempt application dismissed; Respondent found to have complied with re-evaluation order

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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.

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 Tribunal dismissed the contempt application. The Respondent had complied with the order to re-evaluate bids within the prescribed timeframe. Challenges to the propriety of the re-evaluation cannot be litigated through contempt proceedings but require a substantive application. Non-payment of administrative review fees is a matter for execution proceedings, not contempt. The Applicant failed to prove the essential elements of civil contempt.

Outcome

Contempt application dismissed; Respondent found to have complied with re-evaluation order

Facts

Mbarara City Council awarded a contract for collection of lorry parking fees to Ankole United Truck Owners and Drivers Cooperative Society Limited. The Applicant challenged the award, and the Tribunal set aside the award on November 4, 2024, ordering re-evaluation within 10 working days and refund of administrative review fees. The Respondent conducted a re-evaluation on November 8, 2024, and issued a Notice of Best Evaluated Bidder on November 15, 2024, again declaring Ankole United as the successful bidder. The Applicant filed a contempt application alleging non-compliance with the Tribunal's orders regarding proper re-evaluation and refund of fees. The Applicant pursued a second administrative review, and the Accounting Officer ordered a second re-evaluation, which was conducted and awaited Contracts Committee consideration.

Issues

  1. Whether the Respondent complied with the Tribunal's order to re-evaluate bids within 10 working days.
  2. Whether the Respondent should be cited for contempt for alleged non-compliance with Tribunal orders.
  3. Whether the Tribunal can adjudicate on the propriety of the re-evaluation through contempt proceedings.
  4. Whether the Tribunal can enforce payment of administrative review fees through contempt proceedings.

Orders

  • The application is dismissed.
  • Each party shall bear its own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Contempt of Court — Elements of Civil Contempt
To succeed in a civil contempt application, the applicant must prove that the court issued an order, that the order was served or brought to the notice of the alleged contemnor, that there was non-compliance with the order by the respondent, and that the non-compliance was wilful or mala fide.
Administrative Law — Public Procurement — Contempt Proceedings — Scope and Limitations
Contempt proceedings cannot be used to litigate the substantive propriety of a tribunal-ordered re-evaluation; such challenges require a substantive application or administrative review, and the tribunal cannot pre-empt decisions of the Contracts Committee or subsequent administrative review processes.
Civil Procedure — Execution — Enforcement of Money Orders
Non-payment of awarded monies is ordinarily remedied through execution proceedings, not contempt applications; in the absence of an application for execution, a tribunal will not inquire into alleged non-payment through contempt proceedings.

Cases cited (2)

  • Obon Infrastructure Development Ltd v Mbarara City and MBJ Technologies Limited (Miscellaneous Application No. 1 of 2022)
  • K-Solutions Limited v Ministry of Water and Environment (Miscellaneous Application No. 1 of 2024)

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Mbarara City Truck Owners Drivers and Loaders Cooperative Limited v Mbarara City Council 2025 UGPPDPAAT 4 (24 January 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.