Nakibuuka Efulansi v Administrator General [2026] UGHC 856

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.

Holding

The applicant sought leave to proceed with a petition for letters of administration over her late father's estate, he having died intestate in 1946, without a letter of no objection which the Administrator General had declined to issue. The court held that following the deletion of the Local Administration (Performance of Functions) Instrument S.I No. 150, the Administrator General no longer has jurisdiction over estates under the Succession Registers, and the High Court accordingly lacks jurisdiction to appoint an administrator for an estate under the 1972 Buganda Succession Law. Given a pending Constitutional Petition challenging these developments, the applicant should await the Constitutional Court's determination. The application was dismissed with no order as to costs.

Outcome

Application dismissed; the applicant advised to await the outcome of the pending Constitutional Petition on the jurisdiction over estates under the Succession Registers.

Facts

In 2024, the applicant, a daughter of the late Kigobe George who died intestate in 1946, approached the Administrator General to file a report of death in respect of her father's estate. The Administrator General turned her away on the ground that it lacked mandate over estates predating 1975. The applicant twice wrote demanding written reasons, which were provided. Her petition for letters of administration filed in the High Court could not proceed for want of a letter of no objection, prompting this application for a waiver of that requirement. Although served, the respondent did not file an affidavit in reply. The court noted recent developments, including an internal memorandum of the Principal Judge conveying recommendations of the Joint Working Committee on Succession Registers and Certificates of Succession, and the deletion of the Local Administration (Performance of Functions) Instrument S.I No. 150 from the Revised Edition of the Laws, which removed the Administrator General's jurisdiction over estates under the Succession Registers.

Issues

1. Whether the applicant has made out a case for an order waiving the legal requirement for a letter of no objection to proceed with a petition for letters of administration.
2. What remedies are available to the parties.

Orders

• The application is dismissed with no order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (9)

• Succession Act s.5(1)
• Civil Procedure Act s.98
• Judicature Act s.33
• Judicature Act s.16
• Civil Procedure Rules O.52 r.1 & r.3
• Constitution of Uganda Article 139(1)
• Administrator General's Act s.4(1)
• Administrator General's Act s.5(1)
• Succession (Amendment) Act No. 3 of 2022

Cases cited (2)

• Nuhu Ntege v Tomusange Lasito and 15 Others (Civil Suit No. 439 of 2013)
• Lufunya Derrick and Another v Attorney General and Administrator General (Constitutional Petition No. 84 of 2023)

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