About four years ago, Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari, the current representative of Uganda’s entrepreneurs on the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), secured a loan to the tune of nearly Shs1bn from Gerald Kalungi, son to city tycoon Godfrey Kirumira.
Exactly Shs992m, the loan principal sum was Shs8m shy of the Shs1bn figure. But Rukaari, who doubles as the Mbarara City North MP, defaulted on the money, prompting Kalungi to drag him to the Commercial Division of the High Court in Kampala.
On November 17, 2022, the Deputy Registrar of the High Court gave Rukaari one month within which to clear Kalungi’s debt or be arrested and committed to civil prison for defaulting.
“These are to command you to arrest the said judgement -debtor [Rukaari] and unless the said judgement debtor/defendant shall pay to you the sum of Ugx. 992,000,000 and Ugx……. as cost of executing this process to bring the said judgement debtor before the court with all convenient speed,” reads the directive issued by the Deputy Registrar of the High Court.
“You are further commanded to return this warrant on or before the 20th day of December 2022 with an endorsement certifying the day on which and manner in which it has been executed , or the reason why why it has not been executed. This serves to direct every officer of the Uganda Police Force to ensure that the arrest is done in a peaceful and lawful manner.”
The November 2022 directive followed a consent judgement on May 10, 2021 in which Rukaari was ordered to pay Shs992m to Kalungi. But he still failed or refused to pay, leaving Kalungi with no option but to seek orders for the arrest of the businessman, entrepreneur, legislator and NRM CEC member.
After the November 17 directive compelling Rukaari to clear his debt obligations, the businessman only managed to clear only about Shs300, leaving him with a debt of Shs702m.
On March 01, 2023, months after the November 2022 directive, the Registrar of the High Court issued a directive committing Rukaari to civil prison.
“Whereas Mwesigwa R (respondent) has been brought before this court this… day of … 2023 in execution of a decree which was made and pronounced by this court in Execution Miscellaneous Application No 77 of 2022 and by which decree it was ordered that the said Mwesigwa R should pay a decretal sum and costs of 702,000,000/=. And whereas the respondent Mwesigwa R has neither obeyed the decree nor satisfied the court that he not be committed, the registrar wrote.
“You are hereby commanded to commit the said Mwesigwa R into civil prison and keep him therein for a period not exceeding six months until the said decree shall be fully satisfied or the said Mwesigwa R shall otherwise be entitled to be released according to the terms and provisions of of S. 43 of CPA.”
The High Court Commercial Division registrar further directed that Shs5000 be committed as allowance for the subsistence of MP Rukaari for the time he will be jailed at Luzira Prison.
In light of the High Court order committing Rukaari to civil prison, the whereabouts of the wealthy and well-connected MP remain a mystery. While some reports claim that Rukaari was arrested as he appeared before the Commercial Division of the High Court in Kampala on Wednesday, March 01, 2023, other reports quoted the legislator as saying that he was yet to be arrested and that he had not been thrown in prison as alleged.
MP Mwesigwa Rukaari is not new to controversy and scandal. As we reported months ago, Rukaari was named in a Shs10bn land scandal. (See Details Here).
