COMMENT: Renewed hope as Attorney General backs pensioners in sh64 billion case

A case that might redefine how this country views advocates’ compensation is snaking its way through the higher courts.

COMMENT | ANTHONY NATIF | For nearly a year, hundreds of pensioners with the help of  the Public Square and public spirited lawyers like Stanley Okecho and Isabella Nakiyonga have been traversing the corridors of the Court of Appeal in an attempt to stop the payment of sh64 billion of money meant to go towards compensation of pensioners of the now defunct UTL, UPL, etc., to SC John Matovu.

This money was awarded to SC Matovu (nicknamed “Big John” in legal circles) by a single Justice of the Court of Appeal, Muzimuru Kibedi, who inexplicably determined an entire application at the interim stay level by ordering the government to pay Matovu sh64 billion before the close of this FY.

The pensioners felt aggrieved because they were not party to this application, and they claimed said interim application had been heard and determined before the main suit had been fixed. They also claimed that Justice Kibedi was a close friend to John Matovu and that during his private practice, these two had shared a building for their chambers. They cried collusion and foul play.

Justice Kibedi, brother to the late Kirunda Kivejinja has since been promoted to the Supreme Court.

Anyway, in July 2024, they filed a petition in the Court of Appeal to challenge this award to John Matovu.

Background

In 2003, Mr. John Matovu, acting as attorney, filed HCCS No. 135 of 2003 (Bernard Mweteise & others versus UTL, UPL, UCC, PBL & others in which hundreds of pensioners were awarded more than sh320 Billion, ten years later in 2013. This decision was upheld on appeal in June 2018.

The pensioners were paid 55% of this sh320 billion.

They say, and the Auditor General confirmed, they paid billions to their lawyers as legal fees but the lawyers (John Matovu) wanted more than they agreed. He filed an application to be paid sh64 billion BN of the remaining 144 billion, and this is what’s caused this fight, whose latest edition happened in the CoA on 24/4/2024 before Justices Hellen Obura, John Mike Musisi and Margaret Tibulya.

The pensioners filed a multiplicity of applications, one of which was to be enjoined to the initial suit by John Matovu that birthed the interim ruling that gave him the sh64 billion. They also applied to set aside the whole payment on the grounds that they weren’t party to it, yet it’s their money being given away.

The other grounds touched on illegality because the payment relied on what they say is a non-existent remuneration agreement that purportedly allowed John Matovu access to 20% of the decretal sum. This agreement, even if it existed, runs afoul of the law, as numerous CoA and Supreme Court decisions have stated.

In a dramatic reversal of course, the attorney general, represented by Richard Adrore prayed to the court to allow them to withdraw an affidavit opposing the pensioners’ application and filed one in support. They relied on the court’s Rule 2 and prayed that in the interest of justice, the court allow them to withdraw and file a fresh affidavit.

John Matovu and his team vehemently opposed this application and said it had real legal and monetary implications, especially considering the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of ICT, had already started making payments.

He asked, “Where’s that rule where you can file an affidavit in the morning and withdraw in the afternoon?”

The justices, in a unanimous ruling, agreed with the AG.

John Matovu then rushed to write to PS Ministry of Finance Ramathan Ggoobi to expedite payment in what observers think is a ploy to make off with the cash before the court has its say, which might make the government pay twice.

We are yet to see the PSST’s reply.

John Matovu is already facing charges in the anti-corruption court “of theft by agent and conspiracy to defraud the government of Shs4 billion shillings”. He says these charges are illegal and  infringe on his rights as a practicing attorney.

****

ADAPTED FROM X – @TonyNatif