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Nangeye Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited v North Bukedi Cooperative Union Limited and Another [2026] UGHC 767

High Court · 2026 Preliminary Objection Upheld — Application Struck Out AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for judicial review by notice of motion, met with preliminary objections raised from the bar on prematurity and non-amenability
Decision
Application struck out as premature; Applicant at liberty to pursue arbitration under the Cooperative Societies Act and return to Court thereafter if still aggrieved

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Holding

A primary cooperative society sought judicial review of resolutions passed at a general meeting of its union. The High Court upheld the preliminary objection and struck out the application as premature. Disputes between a cooperative union and its members are governed by the registered bye-laws, which bind members contractually, and are therefore largely private law matters not amenable to judicial review. More decisively, Part XI of the Cooperative Societies Act establishes a mandatory arbitration process, with appeal to the Board of the Uganda Cooperative Alliance, which must be exhausted before court proceedings. Rule 7A of the Judicature (Judicial Review) (Amendment) Rules 2019 makes exhaustion a jurisdictional gate. Futility cannot be asserted for a remedy never attempted. Each party bore its own costs.

Outcome

Application struck out as premature; Applicant at liberty to pursue arbitration under the Cooperative Societies Act and return to Court thereafter if still aggrieved

Facts

The Applicant is a primary cooperative society registered under the Cooperative Societies Act and a member of the 1st Respondent, a secondary cooperative union. The 2nd Respondent is the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. The 1st Respondent's Board and Vetting Committee were elected on 15 November 2022 for four-year terms expiring in November 2026. On 5 March 2025 a Special General Meeting purportedly constituted a new Vetting Committee; the Registrar suspended that meeting. A notice of annual general meeting was issued for 7 February 2025, which the Applicant did not attend. On 8 and 9 September 2025 a meeting convened by or for the 1st Respondent passed resolutions adversely affecting the membership standing of certain primary societies, including the Applicant, although the 1st Respondent's own report recorded that of 25 societies submitting membership documents only one lacked a valid Shareholders Register. The Applicant filed this judicial review application in October 2025 alongside two related applications. The 1st Respondent filed an affidavit in reply raising preliminary objections that the application was premature and not amenable to judicial review; the 2nd Respondent filed nothing and did not appear. Only the Applicant filed written submissions.

Issues

  1. Whether the application was properly before the Court having regard to the preliminary objections raised by the 1st Respondent, namely amenability to judicial review and failure to exhaust mandatory dispute resolution mechanisms.
  2. Whether the decisions of the 1st Respondent at and arising from the meeting of 8th and 9th September 2025 were tainted with illegality, irrationality and/or procedural impropriety warranting judicial review.
  3. What remedies, if any, were available to the Applicant.

Orders

  • The application is struck out as premature for non-compliance with the mandatory dispute resolution mechanisms under Section 142 of the Cooperative Societies Act, Cap. 107; Rule 18 of the North Bukedi Cooperative Union Limited Bye-Laws; and Rule 7A of the Judicature (Judicial Review) (Amendment) Rules, 2019.
  • Each party shall bear its own costs of this application.
  • The order substituting the 2nd Respondent with the Registrar of Cooperative Societies in that officer's statutory capacity is confirmed.

Rules and key headnotes

Judicial Review — Amenability — Public Law Right Distinguished from Private Contractual Right
Judicial review lies only where the body exercises public functions and the subject matter concerns a public law right; the fact that one party is a public body does not convert a fundamentally contractual dispute into a public law matter, and such a claimant must pursue private law remedies.
Judicial Review — Cooperative Societies — Membership Rights Arising Under Registered Bye-Laws
Registered bye-laws of a cooperative society bind every member as if personally signed under section 34 of the Cooperative Societies Act, so a member's rights to attend meetings and participate in elections are contractual in nature and a complaint that the union breached its own governance rules is not ordinarily amenable to judicial review.
Arbitration & ADR — Cooperative Disputes — Mandatory Arbitration and Internal Appeal Before Recourse to Court
Part XI of the Cooperative Societies Act establishes a mandatory arbitration process for cooperative disputes, with appointment of an arbitrator by the General Secretary of the Uganda Cooperative Alliance Ltd where the parties disagree and an appeal to the Board of the Alliance, and only after that process is exhausted does recourse to the High Court arise.
Judicial Review — Exhaustion of Remedies — Rule 7A as a Jurisdictional Gate — Plea of Futility
Rule 7A of the Judicature (Judicial Review) (Amendment) Rules 2019 requires the court to confirm that available remedies have been exhausted before entertaining a judicial review application; this is a jurisdictional requirement rather than a discretionary one, and a party cannot assert the futility of a remedy it has never attempted, particularly where the appointing authority is independent of the impugned body.
Administrative Law — Illegality Overriding Rule — Limits Where Mandatory Pre-Action Step Not Taken
The principle that a court cannot sanction an illegality once brought to its attention presupposes that the matter is properly before the court, and does not confer jurisdiction where a mandatory pre-action step has not been taken.
Civil Procedure — Costs — Discretion to Depart from the Rule that Costs Follow the Event
Although costs ordinarily follow the event under section 27 of the Civil Procedure Act, the court may in its discretion order each party to bear its own costs where the unsuccessful party is a body of modest means that approached the court in good faith.

Legislation cited (17)

Cases cited (4)

Full judgment

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Nangeye Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited v North Bukedi Cooperative Union Limited and Another [2026] UGHC 767 (23 June 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.