There is trouble in the paradise of former Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi after Letitia Nakimbugwe, one of his alleged wives (believed to be the second wife), threatened to drag him to court for throwing him out of his house and other properties.
Through her lawyers of Mbabaali Jude & Co. Advocates as well as M/s T. Odeke & Co. Advocates, Nakimbugwe has written to Ssekandi of Ssekandi & Co. Advocates informing him of her intention to sue him.
Nakimbugwe claims that she has been in love with Vice President Emeritus Ssekandi for a cool 25 years and that they have been blessed with two children.
“That 25 years ago at Agripa Hotel in Masaka you met and fell in love with our Client after which you started cohabiting with her and as a result of the said cohabitation you were blessed with two children namely; NSOMERA KATRINA and NANTUME CYNTHIA aged 20 and 18 years respectively,” she said in her notice of intention to sue the country’s former number two.
She also claimed that during their love relationship, they constructed a number of properties. Nakimbugwe further alleges that she made a huge contribution to the properties in question, including buildings on Plot 14, Edward Avenue, Masaka City; Plot 763 Block 257 at Munyonyo; and Plot 17 Alexander Drive, Masaka City.
“That as the love between you and herself grew, you jointly constructed a residential home at Nyanama, Busingiri Zone, Mutundwe Parish, Wakiso District in which you have continued to cohabit with her said children until recently when the relationship took another turn. That during the continuation of the said relationship you agreed with our Client to identify a joint venture from which you would get money, part of which would cater for her and her said children, and you eventually zeroed on construction of commercial buildings on the various pieces of land that she searched for and helped you acquired,” Ssekandi’s ‘wife’ further claimed.
“That you jointly embarked on the development of the above mentioned plots and constructed commercial buildings thereon some of which were completed in 2012 and others are about to be completed. That she significantly contributed financially in buying construction materials and concentrated all her skills, time and effort on overseeing the construction of the said buildings as you were busy with your duties in Government and that she even travelled several times to China to buy construction materials, windows and doors for the said buildings.”
Nakimbugwe goes on to claim that once the commercial buildings such as the one on PLot 14, Edward Avenue Masaka City, were complete, she and Ssekandi agreed to rent them out to potential tenants. She says she has been managing these properties since then and using the proceeds to pay school fees and upkeep for their two children who go to UK schools.
But, according to the notice of intention to sue, things are said to have taken a new twist at the beginning of this year (2022) when tenants in the said buildings informed her that they been served with a notice dated the 30th day of December 2021 from the ex-VP’s law firm of M/s Ssekandi & Co Advocates, informing them of the changes in the management of the building and telling them to sign new tenancy agreements.
Nakimbugwe said these new orders came without her consent or knowledge despite her being the manager of the properties. And just like that a new manager named Victoria Ssekandi came on board.
And before Nakimbugwe could taken in the sudden changes, she says she was chased from the house she has been staying in after she was ordered to pay Shs3m for the six months she had stayed in the house now under a new management.
“That through a letter dated the 10th day of January 2022 signed by yourself, a one VICTORIA SSEKANDI, introduced herself to the said tenants requiring them to deposit rent on her personal account and was also requiring them to sign new tenancy agreements or be evicted. What shocked our Client to the marrows is the that fact that you even included the said residential home at Nyanama in which you have continued to cohabit with her as part of the properties from which the said Victoria Ssekandi must collect rent,” Nakimbugwe claimed in her notice.
“That you did not only stop at that but through your said authorized agent, VICTORIA SSEKANDI, hired S.P. Court Bailiffs to file in Masaka Municipal Court Miscellaneous Application No. 214 of 2022 for a Court Order to evict our Client from the space she has been using since 2012 without any rental charges located on the said commercial building at Plot 14, Edward Avenue, purportedly for failure to pay you rent of Ug. Shs. 3,000,000 for 6 months which Application we are successfully defending.”
Her lawyers say that the new orders have affected their client, depriving her of her interest in the said properties.
Mbabaali Jude & Co. Advocates as well as M/s T. Odeke & Co. Advocates have now told Ssekandi that the properties in question are jointly owned by him (the ex-VP) their client, Nakimbugwe, “by virtue of the operation of the Doctrine of Proprietary Estoppels and Partnership.”
They have now given the ex-VP two days within which to sit down with Nakimbugwe to settle the matter or wait to be dragged to court to seek a declaration that him and their client are tenants in common of the properties and therefore have equal shares. As expected, Nakimbugwe’s lawyers say they will seek damages for the losses suffered as well as the costs of the suit.
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