Muhangi children, widow fight over his property

The older children of late businessman and former motor rallying champion Charles Muhangi are locked up in a property sharing row with their father’s widow hardly a week after his burial.
Muhangi died suddenly on December 6 at his home in Buziga, a Kampala suburb.
He was buried last Sunday at his country home in Bushenyi District and Saturday Monitor has learnt that a document was signed shortly afterwards indicating how the deceased’s property is to be shared. Two of Muhangi’s children have since petitioned the Administrator General’s Office contesting the property sharing agreement.
In response to the complaint, in a letter dated December 12 to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Bushenyi District, Ms Karungi Betty Gafabusa, an official at the Ankole Administrator General’s Office said the late Muhangi’s estate is still legally vested in his office since none of the beneficiaries has ever been granted letters of administration.
The AG’s office asked the CAO’s office to intervene and ensure that peace prevails and that the deceased’s property is protected from any further intermeddling prior to determination of all prevailing ownership disputes.
“We have been reliably informed that there are disagreements regarding the choice of the beneficiaries to jointly administer the estate and the formula for distribution of all the deceased’s property among the beneficiaries i.e that Mbabazi Patience (widow) has connived with a section of the beneficiaries to intermeddle with the deceased’s property by proposing an unfair/unjustified distribution schedule intended to give the widow the biggest share of the deceased’s undisclosed properties without any justification all to the detriment of the deceased’s minority beneficiaries,” reads the letter signed by Ms Gafabusa.
The letter indicated that Muhangi died without leaving a Will, meaning that his estate is legally vested in the Administrator General’s office, which is in the process of streamlining its legal administration since none of the beneficiaries has ever been granted letters of administration.
The letter added: “The general public is further notified and advised that apart from the Administrator General’s legal representative or with his/her knowledge and consent, no person can lawfully transact in the said estate. Therefore, anybody transacting in the estate with any other person than the Administrator General/ legal representative or his or her written consent, does so at his/her loss and detriment.”
The AG’s directive followed a complaint in which two of the beneficiaries of the late Muhangi’s estate; Lionel Emmanuel Muhangi and Sarah Mirembe Muhangi, through their lawyers of Matovu Suwaya and Advocates, petitioned the office challenging the legality of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) executed to share proceeds of late Muhangi’s estate.
The lawyers’ letter shows that Lionel Muhangi is one of the shareholders of Horizon Coaches Limited but in the MOU executed immediately after the burial of his father, the proceeds and property of Horizon Coaches were subjected to a distribution and he was only allotted 9 per cent of the company.
The lawyers wrote that the MoU signed on December 10 by the beneficiaries of the estate of the late Muhangi offended all the necessary legal procedures as far as the administration and distribution of the estate of the deceased is concerned. The beneficiaries include the widow, deceased’s brother and the children signed in the presence of Mr Hassan Basajabalaba, Elizabeth Nkonge, Muhangi William and Joy Owembabazi.
“We demand a full disclosure of all properties, assets and liabilities of the late Muhangi for the estate to be formally administered and the distribution of the same estate be legally made by the administrators after grant as soon as possible,” reads the complaint addressed to Ms Mbabazi.
Ms Matovu yesterday confirmed the contests in a telephone interview saying they were waiting for the action by the CAO’s office.
Mr Paul Tusubira, a lawyer based in Mbarara, confirmed drafting the MoU, saying he was consulted to put in writing what had been agreed between the late Muhangi’s family in the presence of their relatives and friends.
According to the MOU, the family sat on December 10 and agreed that all proceeds together with the property of Horizon Coaches Limited and any other company belonging to the late Muhangi shall be shared.
When contacted on Thursday evening, Ms Muhangi declined to comment on the matter.