Family wrangle lifts lid on Kiwanuka’s empire

UNIGROUP where the Oscar Industries and other businesses owned by Kampala businessman Mohan Kiwanuka are housed in Nakawa Industrial Park. Inset is Mohan Musisi Kiwanuka (L) and his son Jordan Ssebuliba Kiwanuka. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA

Before the war currently raging between businessman Mohan Musisi Kiwanuka and his son Jordan Ssebuliba Kiwanuka, the extent of Mr Kiwanuka’s wealth remained a mystery.

The ongoing fight, however, has brought much of it to the fore.

Mr Kiwanuka, the husband of former Finance minister Maria Kiwanuka, is a reclusive man who hates the limelight, and many people in Kampala would perhaps not put a face to his name before the current standoff in his family.

Those who know him say despite his vast wealth, he sometimes hops into commuter taxis on his way to transact business downtown.
He often wears plain short-sleeved shirts, which accentuates his ill-fitting image as a ‘common man’.

Those who have once sat next to Mr Kiwanuka in a commuter taxi through the dusty streets of Kampala and did not spare a thought for their co-passenger would be most astonished by the contents of documents deposited at the Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala.

Exposure
A near full range of Mr Kiwanuka’s properties is exposed in the documents that were deposited in court both by Mr Ssebuliba and his brother Sabri Kyamukungubya Kiwanuka.

Mr Ssebuliba is a lawyer and until May, he was the company secretary and signatory to the accounts of 32 companies owned by his father, which he listed in the documents.

His brother Kyamukungubya, who swore an affidavit in support of his father, said in the documents that he studied Finance and Economics at the University of Connecticut in the United States, and now works with dfcu Bank as a personal finance consultant.

Mr Ssebuliba in May petitioned the High Court seeking orders to conduct a mental checkup on his father, who he accused of not being fully in control of his mental faculties due to a decision his father took to remove him from the management of the 32 companies owned by his father.

The companies are engaged in a wide array of businesses and Kiwanuka own at least 46 prime properties in Kampala worth an unspecified sum.

Of the 46 properties that Mr Ssebuliba listed, at least 26 are found in Kololo, arguably the most upscale neighbourhood in Kampala City.

One of the properties at the heart of the fallout between Mr Ssebuliba and his father is located in Kololo.
His father says Mr Ssebuliba occupied it for 10 years, drawing income of Shs600m per year without remitting it to him.
Another of the properties in Kololo is occupied by Mr Ssebuliba’s mother, who also had other children with Mr Kiwanuka, but the businessman says they have been apart for 35 years.

Mr Kiwanuka says if it were to be rented out, it would fetch $5,000 ( more than Shs18m) per month.
This gives a hint into how much the properties fetch for him.

Another property which has been cited in the ongoing wrangle is comprised in 50 acres located at Sonde in Mukono District.

Documents by Mr Ssebuliba show that his father has agreed to sell it off at Shs200m per acre, or Shs10b for the 50 acres.
In defence of his father against Mr Ssebuliba’s claims, Mr Kyamukungubya, in his affidavit deposited in court, wrote of his father: “… the respondent (Kiwanuka) has carefully and meticulously built successful businesses and management system comprising of trading companies and properties, which he has further protected and safeguarded by utilising the different legal avenues available to him.”

Mr Kyamukungubya’s affidavit shows that his father and mother (Maria Kiwanuka) are currently engaged in building a marble mine and factory at Matheniko in Moroto District, which he says has entered commercial production.

It is for the development of this project, Mr Kyamukungubya says, that is parents are selling off the land in Sonde.
Despite owning Radio One and Radio Two, Mr Kiwanuka is media-shy and declined to do an interview for this article.
His wife Maria, while still minister of Finance between 2011 and 2015, also remained reclusive and hardly gave press interviews.

Some of Kiwanuka’s companies
1. UNIPLUS LTD
2. UCAN LTD
3. CENTRAL TRUST LTD
4. CENTRAL HOLDINGS LTD
5. MEGATRUST LTD
6. SUMMIT GROUP LTD
7. UNIGROUP LTD
8. JJAJA ESTATES LTD
9. VISA INVESTMENTS LTD
10. KIWATULE ESTATES LTD
11. BWERENGA ESTATES LTD
12. PRIME ESTATES LTD
13. SUMMIT LTD
14. SUMMIT ESTATES LTD
15. POKINO PROPERTIES LTD
16. BUDGET FREIGHT LTD
17. CITY TRAVEL LTD
18. CITY TREK LTD
19. METROLINK LTD
20. ROADLINK LTD
21. STARWAYS LTD
22. JOBCO LTD
23. JOBHOUSE LTD
24. CITY TRADE LTD
25. VISA SERVICES LTD OSCAR INDUSTRIES LTD
26. VISA PLASTICS LTD
27. VISA PRESS LTD
28. PREPRESS SERVICES LTD
29. METRO SERVICES LTD
30. RADIO ONE LTD
31. RADIO TWO LTD
32. KOLOLO RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION LTD

Kiwanuka’s properties listed in court documents
1. Plot 1, Malcom X Avenue, Kololo
2. Plot 2 Impala Avenue, Kololo
3. Plot 2 Jinja Road
4. Block 577 Plot 6 Sonde
5. Plot 8 Water Lane Naguru
6. Plot 9, Summit View, Kololo
7. Plot 11, Tagore Crescent
8. FRV414 Folio 22 Plot 14, Ngabo Road, Kololo
9. LRV612 Folio 9 Plot 14 Ngabo Road, Kololo
10. Plot 15 Prince Charles Drive, Kololo
11. Plot 1 Nyanza Crescent, Kololo
12. Plot 17 Elizabeth Avenue Kololo
13. Plot 18 Philip Road Kololo
14. Plot 19 Elizabeth Avenue Kololo
15. Plot 21 Elizabeth Avenue, Kololo
16. Plot 22A Kawalya Kagwa Close, Kololo
17. Plot 24 Block 577Plot 25 Kitante Road
18. Plot 26 Impala Avenue
19. Plot 27 Kitante Road
20. Plot 32 Kampala Road
21. Kyadondo Block 220(Plots 97,161,168,169,185,367368) Kiwatule
22. Busiro 413(Plots 1750,1751,1757,1758
23. Plot 10 A Akii Bua Road, Nakasero
24. Plot 10B, Akii Bua Road, Nakasero
25. Plot 11A, 11F, 13A Ridgeway Drive Kololo
26. Plot 18 Kawalya Kagwa Close, Kololo
27. Plots 18A, 18B, 18C, Kawalya Kagwa Close, Kololo
28. Plot 18B, Akii Bua Road, Nakasero
29. LRV3370 Folio 22 Plot 18, Akii Bua Road, Nakasero
30. Plots 21-29 Golf Course Road, Kololo
31. Plots 239-299 & 301-441 Nakawa Industrial Area
32. Plot 27B, Ridgeway Drive, Kololo
33. Plot 29A, Ridgeway Drive, Kololo
34. Plot 42A, Upper Kololo Terrace
35. Plot 42B, Upper Kololo Terrace
36. Plot 5B, Elizabeth Avenue, Kololo
37. Plot 9A-9D Ridgeway Drive, Kololo
38. Plot M218 Nakawa Industrial Area
39. Plot M244 Ntinda Industrial Area
40. Plot M583 Coronation Avenue
41. Plot M584 Coronation Avenue
42. Block 38, Plot 112 Wandegeya,
43. Plot 40A Windsor Crescent, Kololo
44. Plot 40B Windsor Crescent, Kololo
45. Plot 40B Upper Kololo Terrace
46. Plot 18 Elizabeth Avenue, Kololo