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Uganda Plastics Manufacturers & Recyclers Association Ltd v National Environment Management Authority (Miscellaneous Application No. 870 of 2018)

High Court · [2018] UGHCCD 227 · 2018 Application Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to add parties to an existing civil suit arising from challenge to enforcement of plastics ban
Decision
Application granted with permission to amend pleadings and serve new parties

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The court granted the application to join the Attorney General and Uganda Investment Authority as additional defendants. The joinder was necessary for effective and complete settlement of all questions involved because the respondent NEMA implements government policy and acts on government instructions. No prejudice would be suffered by the respondent, and the joinder would avoid multiplicity of suits.

Outcome

Application granted with permission to amend pleadings and serve new parties

Facts

The applicant association brought a suit in 2016 challenging the respondent NEMA's actions in arbitrarily closing its members' plastics factories across Uganda. The applicant's members were investors licensed by Uganda Investment Authority who had invested heavily in plastics manufacturing and recycling based on government encouragement and assurances. Following a government policy change banning certain plastics, the applicant sought to add the Attorney General and Uganda Investment Authority as defendants, arguing their involvement was necessary because NEMA merely implements government policy and the new parties' contradictory roles influenced the applicant's operations and would affect the award of damages.

Issues

  1. Whether the applicant should be allowed to add the Attorney General and Uganda Investment Authority as defendants to the existing suit.

Orders

  • Application allowed.
  • Attorney General and Uganda Investment Authority joined as defendants.
  • Applicant allowed to amend pleadings to reflect the new parties.
  • Applicant must file and serve the new parties as if it is a new matter.
  • No order as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Joinder of Parties — Necessary Parties — Test for Joinder
For a person to be joined as a necessary party, it must be shown either that the orders sought would legally affect that person's interests and joinder is desirable to avoid multiplicity of suits, or that the defendant cannot effectually set up a defence unless that person is joined, or an order would bind that person.
Civil Procedure — Joinder of Parties — Addition of Government as Party — Implementing Agency
Where a statutory authority acts as a government implementing agency carrying out instructions and directions of government, the Attorney General should be joined as a defendant in representative capacity to enable effective determination of the dispute, even if this introduces new facts or a new cause of action.
Civil Procedure — Joinder of Parties — Multiple Causes of Action — Common Questions of Law and Fact
A plaintiff may unite several causes of action in the same suit against the same defendants, and where substantial common questions of fact are involved in different claims against different defendants, their joinder in one suit cannot be termed multifarious.
Civil Procedure — Joinder of Parties — Court's Discretion — Multiplicity of Suits
The court may exercise its discretion to allow joinder of additional parties where there are common questions of law and fact, no prejudice would be suffered by the existing parties, and the joinder would avoid multiplicity of suits and reduce case congestion.

Legislation cited (8)

Cases cited (1)

  • Departed Asians Property Custodian Board v Jaffer Brothers Ltd [1999] 1 EA 55

Full judgment

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

Uganda Plastics Manufacturers & Recyclers Association Ltd v National Environment Management Authority (Miscellaneous Application No. 870 of 2018) [2018] UGHCCD 227 (6 July 2018)
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.