Wakilii

Nasirumbi and Others v Wafula and Others (MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO. 21 OF 2024)

High Court · [2025] UGHC 186 · 2025 Preliminary Objection Partly Allowed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Interlocutory application to set aside order dismissing civil suit and reinstate suit
Decision
Preliminary objection partly allowed; offending paragraphs severed; application to proceed on merits

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Court held that an affidavit containing conclusions of law and prayers to court offends Order 19 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Rules. However, where offending paragraphs can be severed while leaving the remainder meaningful, court may accept the rest. Seven paragraphs were severed. The preliminary objection was overruled without costs and the application was directed to proceed on its merits.

Outcome

Preliminary objection partly allowed; offending paragraphs severed; application to proceed on merits

Facts

The applicants filed an application seeking to set aside an order dated 24 April 2024 that dismissed Civil Suit No. 0023 of 2022 at Tororo, and to reinstate the suit. The application was supported by a 51-paragraph affidavit deposed by the third applicant. When the matter came up for hearing, counsel for the respondents raised a preliminary objection that the affidavit offended Order 19 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Rules by being argumentative, containing irrelevant matters of fact, and raising points of law. The respondents sought to have the affidavit and the entire application struck out. The applicants countered that the affidavit properly enumerated events within the deponent's knowledge and that court could sever any offending paragraphs under Section 98 of the Civil Procedure Act.

Issues

  1. Whether the affidavit in support offends Order 19 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Rules by being argumentative, containing irrelevant matters of fact, and raising points of law.
  2. Whether the affidavit in support should be struck out in its entirety or whether offending paragraphs can be severed.

Orders

  • Paragraphs 12, 19, 37, 46, 47, 49, and 50 of the affidavit in support are severed.
  • The remainder of the affidavit in support is accepted.
  • The preliminary objection is overruled, without costs.
  • The application shall be determined on its merits.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Affidavits — Compliance with Order 19 Rule 3 — Affidavits Containing Conclusions of Law and Prayers
An affidavit that contains conclusions of law which the deponent is unable on his own knowledge to prove, and prayers to court which are not matters of fact, offends Order 19 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Rules.
Civil Procedure — Affidavits — Severance of Offending Paragraphs — Principle
Where an affidavit contains paragraphs that offend Order 19 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Rules, court may sever the offending parts and accept the remainder, provided the affidavit remains meaningful after severance.
Civil Procedure — Preliminary Objections — Relevancy of Affidavit Contents — Assessment
The question of whether an affidavit contains irrelevant matter cannot be determined on a preliminary objection without deciding the merits of the application, because relevancy depends on the substantive issues at hand.

Legislation cited (4)

Cases cited (2)

  • Re Bukeni Gyabi Fred [1999] KALR 918
  • Kizza Besigye v Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Another (Election Petition No. 1 of 2001)

Full judgment

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

Nasirumbi and Others v Wafula and Others (MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO. 21 OF 2024) [2025] UGHC 186 (7 February 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.