Rukikaire successfully challenges control of late Garuga’s companies

What the report says

The Observer reported that the Uganda Registration Services Bureau has set aside the appointment of lawyer Agaba Maguru to leadership roles in companies linked to the late businessman James Garuga Musinguzi. The bureau found that the process used to install Maguru after Garuga-Musinguzi’s death last year was unlawful, following a challenge filed by former Privatisation minister Mathew Rukikaire.

According to the report, Rukikaire told URSB he owns 0.45% of Garuga Properties Limited. That company is described as the majority shareholder in Kinkizi Development Company Limited and Incafex Limited, where Garuga-Musinguzi had also been a director. Rukikaire contested resolutions passed at extraordinary general meetings and the company filings that followed, arguing they had not been properly authorised and could not legally give Maguru control.

Maguru and another Garuga Properties director, Henry Hapa Nganwa, disputed the challenge. They argued that Rukikaire’s stake was too small to affect company affairs and that he had no standing in Kinkizi Development Company Limited or Incafex Limited because he was not a direct shareholder in those entities. Assistant registrar of companies Daniel Nasasira rejected that position, finding that Rukikaire had a legally recognisable interest through his shareholding in Garuga Properties, the controlling shareholder of the other two firms.

The Observer said URSB also found that Rukikaire had not been notified of the Garuga Properties extraordinary general meeting, despite being entitled to participate as a shareholder. Nasasira ordered Maguru’s appointment removed from URSB’s company records, restoring the register to its position before the disputed filings. The decision matters because it affects control and governance of companies tied to Garuga-Musinguzi’s estate and clarifies that indirect interests may be enough to challenge contested corporate actions.