Online Reporter
Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
The Secretary General of the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) Mr Robert Kwenyunga Kwesiga and his wife, Hilda, have emerged victorious in their legal battle to quash claims exceeding US$158 000 that had been lodged against them.
The High Court delivered a decisive ruling, granting the couple an application for absolution from the instance, effectively putting an end to the financial demands.
Mr Kwesiga worked for the Danish Red Cross in Zimbabwe between 2007 and 2013.
“The plaintiff failed to prove a prima facie case against the defendants,” Justice Regis Dembure stated in his ruling.
“Nothing arises for the defendants to rebut. This case was a complete waste of the court’s time and judicial resources.”
Mr Dube, representing himself, had sued the Kwesigas for costs related to property repairs, security services, water supplies, damages for mental anguish and medical expenses.
However, the court dismissed these claims as devoid of legal merit. He argued that these arose from his lease of the defendants’ property in Vainona, Harare, between 2017 and 2019.
Mr Dube alleged that the Kwesigas failed to maintain the property, which caused him to incur substantial expenses and suffer health complications, including hypertension and Multi-System Atrophy (MSA-P).
The Kwesigas, represented by Advocate Thabani Mpofu, denied the claims and applied for absolution from the instance at the close of Mr Dube’s case, contending that no evidence had been presented to establish liability or substantiate the amounts claimed.
Justice Dembure found Mr Dube’s case to be fundamentally flawed. Mr Dube failed to link receipts for repairs, security services, and water supplies to the lease agreement or provide evidence that the defendants had authorised or accepted responsibility for such expenditures.
“He simply referred the court to several documents, expecting the court to sift through them and piece together his case,” the judge observed.
“The court cannot assist a litigant to prove their own case.”
The court also dismissed claims for damages related to mental anguish, stress, and medical expenses, noting that the plaintiff presented no medical evidence to substantiate his allegations.
Justice Dembure emphasised the legal principle that damages for non-patrimonial loss, such as emotional distress, cannot be recovered in a contract claim under Zimbabwean common law.
“There was no evidence establishing a connection between the alleged conduct of the defendants and the plaintiff’s claimed medical conditions,” the judge ruled. “The claim was, with respect, preposterous.”
The court further criticised Mr Dube’s failure to present a coherent case, noting that his testimony was contradictory and unsupported by the terms of the lease agreement.
Justice Dembure highlighted that the plaintiff was bound by his pleadings and could not introduce new claims or evidence during the trial.
“A litigant cannot plead one case and then, at trial, seek to establish another,” the judge said. “The plaintiff paid little regard to his pleadings and found himself unable to prove his case.”
Justice Dembure also addressed the issue of costs, ruling that Mr Dube’s conduct warranted punitive measures.
“The claim is frivolous or vexatious. The resultant unnecessary legal process has caused the defendants to suffer unwarranted legal expenses,” the judge stated.
“There is no reason why the court must not come hard on this kind of buffoonery.”
The court ordered that the defendants be awarded costs on a legal practitioner and client scale, a rare measure reserved for cases involving egregious abuse of the judicial process.
“I agree with Mr Mpofu that the claim is indubitably vexatious and an abuse of the court process,” Justice Dembure concluded.
“Costs on a legal practitioner and client scale are warranted in the circumstances.”
Mr Kwesiga joined URCS in 1991 as a programme officer and rose through the ranks to become its secretary general in 1999.
In 2005, he was appointed the coordinator of Red Cross Southern Africa based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
In early 2024, the High Court froze the Kwesigas’ two US$300 000 (about Shs1.14b) mansions in the posh suburbs of Mt Pleasant and Vainona, on allegations of corruption.
The two mansions were bought in 2012.
In its judgment on May 15, 2024, the court gave Mr Kwesiga and his wife up to 30 days to explain the source of the money they used to buy the two mansions or the Government would seize them.
However, in July last year, the Ugandan couple successfully overturned an unexplained wealth order issued against them by the High Court in Zimbabwe.
The Supreme Court, led by Justice Samuel Kudya, ruled in their favour, dismissing allegations of money laundering and setting aside the earlier judgment.
