By KT Reporter
Since the death of Ugandan businessman Nouman Kyamanywa Mugasa in September 2021, his three widows and their respective children (15 of them in total) have been at war with each other.
The widows are Sharifah Kyamanywa, Magda Kyamanywa and Fatina Christine Nyangoma. The children are 15 in total and three of them are for Nyangoma. The 12 are togegher along with their mothers Sharifah and Magda.
The three children of Fatina are with their mother in fighting the rest over property and inheritance. They are also opposed to the heir Faizal Kyamanywa who was voted by all the 15 siblings after their late father’s will went missing.
In his good old days, Nouman Kyamanywa Mugasa became a very rich businessman in Kampala and accumulated a lot of property including a house in Kiwatule where he lived with Fatina who he got married to in 2010; the Mbuya home of two acres where he used to live with wife number two Magda and in Masindi where he used to live with wife number one, Sharifah.
He was 80 when he died in 2021 and his three wives are equally elderly. Sharifah is 80, Magda in 70s and Fatina in 60s. Mohammed Mbabazi of Nyanzi Kiboneka & Co Advocates was his family lawyer.
Upon his death, Fatina laid claim on the vacant undeveloped large plot of land in Masindi municipality industrial area and a square mile of farm land in Kiizi village Masindi district. On this land the late used to grow sugarcane as an outgrower for Kinyara. He also had cows on the land.
When he died, Fatina with whom he was staying at his Masindi ancestral home in his last days, claimed this was all hers alone. She used lawyer Kasangaki as a witness to show that this land was jointly owned by her and the late. The rest of the family members, including the late’s brother Adnan Mugasa, opposed this.
Fatina, backed by her three children two daughters Shakirah, another and a boy called Hamza, reacted by declaring that the other two elderly widows weren’t entitled to anything because in her view, they were mere exes and not wives to the deceased.
The two older ladies had years earlier been facilitated by Nouman to travel to the US and UK for kyeyo. Nouman sent them away to look for money when he fell on hard times; his businesses collapsed and banks wanted to take his property. This didn’t amount to divorce.
While on kyeyo, the two ladies sent money which Nouman used to pay off debts and rescue the mortgaged properties and to also pay school fees for the children all of whom are educated up to university.
When relatives and the 13 children rejected her claim that Sharifah and Magda weren’t her co-wives and her decision to disentitle them, Fatina went to court and put caveats on several properties of the deceased.
She also sued the children of the deceased who fellow siblings had chosen to be the administrators-Janat, Jamilah, Faizal, Habib and Hamza. She wanted court to declare Sharifah and Magda weren’t Nouman’s wives anymore.
Fatina’s aggressive behavior was disliked by even Mufti Shaban Mubaje, a family friend, who instructed Masindi district Khadi Sheikh Musa Babanja to give evidence in court against her suit. The two co-wives Sharifah & Magda gave evidence too just like Nouman’s brother Adnan Mugasa did. All of them testified against Fatina.
Fatina was represented by Kampala senior lawyer John Mary Mugisha and the defendants by Isaac Walukaga of MMAKS advocates. Issa Serunkuma, whose eventual transfer as Masindi resident judge was celebrated by local residents, presided over the case.
In what shocked many, the judge ruled that much as Magda and Sharifah were still Nouman’s wives at the time of his death, they weren’t entitled to property. The defendants got unhappy with this ruling and rushed to Kampala and reported their frustrations to the principal judge Flavian Zeija.
They accused the Masindi judge of hostile behavior including not notifying them about the judgement delivery date. They also accused the judge of not cooperating to enable them serve their notice of intention to appeal. They also claimed that their stay of execution application was being frustrated to enable Fatina buy all the time she needed to transfer the targeted properties.
Zeija, who ended up being accused of being biased by people like lawyer Hamza, in the end rendered his own ruling and granted the stay of execution order to preserve the status quo.
He directed transfer of the entire file from Masindi to his chambers in Kampala. As the anti-Fatina group prepared to appeal in court of appeal in Kampala, Zeija suggested pre-appeal mediation. His PA Julius Mwesigye thrice arranged mediation meetings at PJ’s board room all of which failed because the Fatina side shunned him.
They instead went ahead fidgeting to parcel out the land to ensure that by the time their rivals’ appeal is heard and disposed of, there won’t be much property to dispute over. They took charge of all the property including the deceased’s vehicles, office keys and the huge residence at Mbuya Kampala which sits on more than two acres above Ismail road.
The Fatina group even effected transfers regarding the one square mile farm prompting their rivals to challenge the same at the lands ministry. The rivals also protested the statutory duty of 19m that was paid calling it too little for the land which the CGV had valued to be worth several billions.
The Fatina group also obtained support from some key government offices like security of Masindi. This prompted the IGP Abbas Byakagaba, who was a personal friend and knew Nouman well, to intervene.
Byakagaba even caused the transfers of some senior police officers in Masindi who he established had become part of the problem. Even RDC Ngabirano was removed after he was accused of taking sides in the Nouman family feud. He was replaced by Darius Nandinda who has approached the objectively and open-mindedness so far.
The family wrangling recently escalated when security operatives stormed the Masindi ancestral home and arrested Nouman’s elderly brother Adnan Mugasa along with his widow Sharifah, a sickly old woman aged 80, accusing them of selling some of the cattle at the disputed farm.
The cows had been sold to raise school fees for some of the minors and younger children the late Nouman left behind. RDC Nandinda has been looking into this too.
The arrest of elderly Adnan Mugasa scared the anti-Fatina group to the extent of petitioning the president’s office and other offices in Kampala calling for protection.
This escalation of the wrangling touched minister Balaam Barugahara who comes from Masindi to intervene. He believes this wrangling isn’t good for the good reputation of Nouman’s family. He has offered to mediate and facilitate reconciliation between the warring factions.
Being the good leader he is, Balaam has already reached out to the different stakeholders advising them to calm down and stop the fight. He has suggested to involve the IGP Abbas Byakagaba and the retired high court judge Atwooki Rugadya to get Fatina on a round table to find common ground with her rivals.
Meetings are going to be organised to help the warring parties put their demands on table and have a discussion about the same. Those bickering will be told about how prolonged, expensive and destructive endless court battles can be.
They will then be advised to have the give and take spirit and use that same approach to peacefully resolve their differences without involving 3rd party persons who only make things more complicated. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
