Kiwanuka wins case against son

The High Court on Friday dismissed an application by Mr Jordan Ssebuliba to have his father, tycoon Mohan Kiwanuka, undergo a compulsory mental test.
Justice Musa Ssekaana ruled that Mr Ssebuliba failed to convince court why what he had requested for was necessary.
The judge argued that allowing Mr Ssebuliba’s application would not only break Uganda’s laws, but it would also stretch to international statutes that protect people presumed to have disabilities.
“Nobody should be adjudged to be an idiot. It would be defamatory to drag someone living peacefully and let them to dementia tests. It would be absurd to take a man doing his business peacefully for impairment tests,” Justice Ssekaana ruled.
He added: “Court interviewed him (Kiwanuka) and he spoke softly, sometimes bringing jokes. His lawyers and those of the respondent were present and in one session, I interviewed him alone, one-on-one. Court’s judgment is that he has no problem and this case is dismissed.”
The judge ordered each party to bear its costs.
Through the Administration of Estates of Persons of Unsound Mind Act, Mr Ssebuliba had sought to be appointed the manager of his father’s estate, arguing that the appointment of his stepmother, Ms Maria Kiwanuka, as director in the 33-chain of companies, showed that Mr Kiwanuka had started to behave unusually.
Ms Kiwanuka, a former Finance minister, has been legally married to Kiwanuka for 33 years.
A person of unsound mind is one adjudged to be impaired under the Mental Treatment Act. If proved, the court may appoint a manager of the estate of a person of unsound mind on the application but such a person should be in a mental hospital of under some other special care.
In Mr Ssebuliba’s supporting affidavit, he had also said his father was making mistakes by selling off some properties at low prices. But justice Ssekaana ruled that this was the discretion of the owner of the properties.
Three of Mr Kiwanuka’s other children swore affidavits opposing Mr Ssebuliba’s request to have their father undergo a forceful mental test.
Mr Kiwanuka’s chain of companies range from electronic media, real estate, household utensils manufacturing to construction. He has at least 46 prime properties, 26 of them located in Kololo, Kampala.