The MT Kabaka Mutebi II. PHOTO | COURTESY

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Lawyers, investors drawn in fight over dead Chinese

What you need to know:

  • The completion of a giant motor tank vessel planned to ease transportation of goods and oil from Kenya to Uganda, that had generated joy for the owners, has largely evaporated. With the business accused of having a connection with the death of a Chinese migrant worker, the case has dampened the celebratory mood.
  • In a one-page letter, Ssemakadde accused Mahathi Infra, where Mukula is chairperson, of having a hand in the death of Chinese national Ji Zong Wu.  Mr Ssemakadde made it clear that the family of the deceased  needs $1 million (Shs3.6b) as compensation. 

On October 4, a gleeful Capt Mike Mukula tweeted the picture of a giant marine vessel he called ‘MT Kabaka Mutebi II.’

He wrote that it had been pushed into the waters of Lake Victoria, for the first time.  

Mukula added on the lake’s local name: Nalubaale.  In the same tweet - Mukula, who is the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) vice-chairperson Eastern Uganda- explained how they have spent two years building this colossus of a motor tanker (MT), which he said measures 188 metres (long) and  23 metres (wide), and weighs over 4 tonnes.  

 “The ship upon being unveiled docked at the Port Jetty in Kawuku awaiting final calibration and bath metrics to Kisumu port, Kenya,” Mukulu tweeted before revealing how Mr Charles Peter Mayiga, the Katikkiro (prime minister)of Buganda, had toured the ship. 

On October 5, a day after Mukula fired off his tweets, Mr Isaac Kimaze Ssemakadde, a human rights lawyers with the Centre for Legal Aid, wrote to Mahathi Infra Uganda Ltd, the owners of the boat Mukula was tweeting about, pouring cold water on their celebrations.  

In a one-page letter, Ssemakadde accused Mahathi Infra, where Mukula is chairperson, of having  a connection with the death of Chinese national Ji Zong Wu.  Mr Ssemakadde made it clear that the family of the deceased needs $1 million (about Shs3.6b as compensation.   

Mr Ssemakadde said he had got instructions from Wang Yong Jie, the widow of Wu and in the communication, he accused Mahathi Infra of refusing to amicably settle with the widow, issue of the company’s failures, which she alleged had led to the death of her husband. 

“We also understand that your company has consistently operated outside’s immigration, employment, and human rights laws at the detriment of numerous Chinese and Indian migrant workers recruited for the fulfillment of Mahathi Fuel Transport and Storage Depot in Bugiri- Bukasa village, Wakiso District,” Mr Ssemakadde wrote.    

Court documents indicate that Wu was recruited by Mahathi Uganda in 2020 under the false pretences from Jilin Province, Yanji city in North-Eastern China.  He died on September 2021 in the hands of Mahathi Infra, under unclear circumstances, Mr Ssemakadde wrote.

Jie had instructed Ssemakadde to investigate (a) the immigration status of the deceased in Uganda; (b) the working and living conditions of the deceased in Uganda; the treatment or medical interventions that the deceased received if any; (d) the liability of Mahathi for the laws violated and possible criminal prosecution.

“Based on preliminary investigations, “ Ssemakadde wrote, “we have expressed to the widow our confidence that you have been a negligent and delinquent employer, and we estimate your liability to be in the sum of $1,000,000 (about Shs3.6b) for the time being,  the widow has, in turn, instructed us to offer you and your company a grace period of up to close of business on Friday, September 8,  2021, to negotiate an amicable settlement; failing which we must commence civil litigation and possible criminal prosecution.”

Mahathi Infra’s response to Ssemakadde’s letter came on October 7,  through Aequitas Advocates – who  therein agree that Wu is dead but they deny ever employing him. 

“The above mentioned - Ji  Zong Wu has never been an employee of the company and he was before his death contracted by an independent contractor who our client doesn’t have any control over its operation[s] and its structure of employment, “the legal firm wrote on behalf of Mahathi Infra.

Mahathi Infra, the Aequitas Advocates wrote, doesn’t employ any Indian or Chinese migrant workers, as Ssemakadde had claimed. 

“…As they are all employed by their respective contractors and sub-contractors that were contracted to undertake construction at the company’s site in Kawuku Bwerenga along Entebbe Road,” the law firm wrote.

“The claims by Mr Ji Zong Wu’s widow are therefore misconceived and unsustainable against our client as there is no ascertainable cause of action,” 

On October 27, Jie followed through her threats and filed a civil suit against three persons:   Mahathi Infra Uganda, Mahati Infra services Pvt Ltd and Yandapalli  Ravi Shankar, who she claims should account for the death of her husband and consequently part with $1 million.  

At the beginning of the Financial Year 2016/2017, Jie insists that Mahathi, Mahati,  Yandapalli, and other persons she doesn’t know, unlawfully conspired with the predominant purpose being to injure her husband and other migrant workers from China, India, and other countries.  

While in China, Jie says that Wu, who was a veteran timber machinist, was urged, enticed and lured into what she calls safe and lucrative employment as wielding polisher on Mahathi Infra’s shipbuilding venture in Uganda without adequate prior training, experience, or protective gear.   

Wu, according to Jie, was referred to information available on Mahathi Infra’s websites, which she claims contained deceptive information about their labour and management policies. 

“Plaintiffs’ husband [ Wu] was informed that the defendants from whom he was going to work in Uganda as a seasoned timber machinist, were honest, fair and law-abiding employers, who respect and observe human rights and international labour best practices on their site, whereas not,” court documents say.  

“The plaintiff’s husband was falsely promised a valid visa, working permit and elite expatriate terms and conditions of service, only to be indentured to the defendants’ ship-building site in Uganda. Mahathi Infra and its co-defendants, in the suit, are accused of illegally recruiting migrant workers, including Wu but at some time the company shields itself from any legal responsibility, “planning, trafficking, exploitation, abuse, mistreatment, intimidation, false imprisonment, conversion by the detention of travel documents and other personal effects, and servitude of migrant workers [ including the plaintiff’s husband] or achieving a situation in which the plaintiff’s husband and other similarly situated workers were forced to supply their labour at an undervalue,“ the court documents say.     

 On September 6,  Jie says how she received an anonymous phone call from a person who claimed to be her husband’s supervisor at Mahathi Infra’s shipbuilding site, who informed her how Wu had been admitted to International Hospital Kampala (IHK) in critical condition.  

Five days, later, Jie says she received another phone call, again from an anonymous caller, informing her that her husband had passed on.

 Jie insist that in the course of his employment, her husband was exposed to hazardous substances since he was handling angle - grinders and was in contact with welding fume exposure or dust produced in his working area which was likely to cause, as it did in the instant case, skin lesions and inflammation-related or environment associated infection. 

“Contrary to sections 25, 26. 27, 46, and 47 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2006, and negligently, the defendants, their servants, or agents failed to keep their promises in a clean state, in particular with regard to welding fume exposure,” the court documents go on.

Before the matter could be taken to court, Mr Ssemakadde had written a second letter to Mahathi Infra, raising issues that potentially dragged the Chinese embassy into the case that has taken social media by storm.  The crux of Mr Ssemakadde’s letter was that he received information which was to the effect that Mahathi Infra had teamed up with a group of Chinese Embassy officials and business persons in Uganda -he didn’t name- to not only exert undue influence but also carry out a disinformation campaign on Jie who he described as “distressed”,  “illiterate”,” grief-stricken”, “feeble” and “ vulnerable”. 

Mr Ssemakadde accused Aequitas Advocates, who are Mahathi Infra’s lawyers, of representing Jie behind his back- well knowing he is the legally appointed attorney. Mr Ssemakadde says Aeqitas Advocates had without his knowledge, proposed to Jie a sum of $54,840 in an effort that she terminate the client-advocate relationship with him.

“We have expressed our protests directly to Mr Ezra Mugabi, the lawyer who is reputedly in the personal conduct of this matter on behalf of your company and its agents and to Mr Du Bo Wen, a respected member of the Chinese community in Uganda, who introduced the widow to us and vouched for her as a bonafide claimant in this matter,” Ssemakadde wrote. 

“Since we are responsible for helping advance the matter to a point where mutual settlement is a possibility, we request that your company and its agents acknowledge our client’s feebleness in the circumstances, and thus cease and desist from secretly back-channeling with her in the absence of his disclosed advocate.”    

He added: “The widow has been misled to believe, among others, that on presentation of your offer, our representation mandate became superfluous or even harmful to her interests. We have told you where the misinformation/disinformation originated. It’s now incumbent on your company [Mahathi Infra] and its agents and legal advisors to disabuse the widow accordingly.”  

When contacted, Mugabi, an associate at Aequitas Advocates, said he could not comment about Ssemakadde’s complaint. 

“I can’t comment since I have not seen the letter,” he said.