Prime
Widow seeks court order to oversee Muhangi assets
Wrangle. The late Charles Muhangi at former Qualicel Bus Terminal in Kampala last year. The plot of land was for many years contested by Muhangi and businessman Drake Lubega. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The former rally driver was on December 6 found dead in his bed in Buziga, Makindye Division in Kampala and doctors later confirmed he had succumbed to a heart attack. Police pathologists ruled out foul play in his sudden death.
KAMPALA. A Shs122b property fight has ensued between the widow of the late rally ace Charles Muhangi and other family members.
Muhangi’s widow, Ms Patience Mbabazi, has filed a notice in the High Court Family Division, seeking interim authority to manage the property of her deceased husband.
In the motion, Ms Mbabazi has asked the High Court Family Division in Kampala to grant her powers of attorney to keep off other claimants from meddling into and mismanaging Muhangi’s estate until her application for letters of administration has been disposed of by the Administrator General.
“Any attempts to manage and protect the said properties and business interests both in the names of Charles Muhangi and Horizon Coaches Ltd and to ward off third parties, attempting to intermeddle therewith have been faced with challenge of apparent and current lack of legal capacity by the widow,” she states in her affidavit.
At the time of death, Muhangi was locked in property fights with fellow businessman Drake Lubega. The widow says following her husband’s demise, there is no legal representative of his estate to make appearance in court to defend and protect the property.
Property cases
Ms Mbabazi is seeking to be granted powers to continue prosecuting the property cases which her late husband left pending in court.
She says after her husband’s death late last year, it is no longer legally possible to pursue and protect his rights and interests in the shares held in Horizon Coaches and Mountain Gear Group until the final grant of letters of administration.
She says if she is not granted interim powers to save Muhangi’s estate from plunder, there will be no property to protect by the time the Administrator General grants the powers of attorney for her late husband’s estate.
“In the meantime and pending the grant of letters of administration, there is imminent danger of dissipation of the deceased’s (late Muhangi) assets and his interests in Horizon Coaches, Mountain Gear Ltd, caused by the vacuum resulting from his death and yet the process of obtaining letters of administration is quite lengthy and by the time it is completed, the assets and properties forming the estate would have been wasted, damaged and alienated where there will be nothing to administer,” Mbabazi states in her notice to the High Court.
Daily Monitor understands that some of Muhangi’s brothers have also placed caveats on some of the properties on account that they have shares and interests in them.
Brothers summoned
The Family Division court on Monday heard Ms Mbabazi’s notice and summoned one of Muhangi’s brothers to appear tomorrow to answer some of the queries.
Ms Mbabazi lists the properties for which she is seeking powers of attorney as Plot 64 in Kampala Central Division, in Makindye Division, on Mukabya Road and Block 257, Plot 607 in Mengo-Kyadondo.
Others are Plot 34-36 on Semawata Road in Kampala, Plot 35-37 in Kabale Municipality on Nyerere Avenue, Plot 39 in Kabale Municipality, Plot 9 on William Street Kampala and Plot 48-52 Nakivubo Road commonly known as Baganda Bus Park. Others are also in Mbarara Municipality. Ms Mbabazi also listed a Toyota Land Cruiser, UAS 133 B.
She says she is the lawful widow of the late Muhangi and her deceased husband left behind eight children and that her move to safeguard the estate is to ensure each beneficiary gets what is due to them.
“I Mbabazi Patience (widow) do hereby swear and sincerely declare that the late Charles Muhangi died intestate on 06/12/2018 and that I shall faithfully administer the estate and effects of the deceased by paying just debts and distributing the residue of his estate according to the law and that I shall exhibit a true and perfect inventory of all and singular of the said estate and render thereof wherever required by law,” she says in her notice in the High Court.
