The newly appointed deputy Chief Justice Dr. Flavian Zeija has issued a Court Order directing individuals taking care of sick Oscar Industries tycoon Mohan Kiwanuka to produce him in Court so as to determine allegation that he is mentally sick.
The orders resulted from the application filed by Kiwanuka’s sisters; Sarah Nsereko, Jalia Muwanga, Yudaya Nantege Nsereko and Bart Nsereko Kawooya seeking for review of the orders issued by Justice Boniface Wamala of the Civil Division of the High Court declaring their matter res-judicata.
Justice Wamala agreed with Kiwanuka’s lawyers of Buwuule Mayiga and Company Advocates that the matter before him was determined and dismissed by Justice Musa Ssekaana in 2019 in the case of Jordan Ssebuliba Kiwanuka who wanted his father Kiwanuka to be subjected to a mental examination insisting that he is not in his right mental state.
Kiwanuka’s relatives also accused the trial judge of ignoring their argument that the lawyers representing Kiwanuka don’t have proper legal instructions insisting that by the time they claimed to have received the instruction, Kiwanuka had already been declared mentally sick.
Justice Zeija agreed with the applicants that there is new evidence since Justice Ssekaana’s decision over the matter basing on the affidavits of Kiwanuka’s lawyer Edwin Busuulwa, his personal doctors Dr. Simon Sekiganda Luzige and Dr. Harriet Nankabirwa who both confirmed in 2023 that Kiwanuka was mentally sick and cannot take decisions on his own.
Justice Zeija also overruled Kiwanuka’s lawyers who were challenging his powers to hear and determine the said application insisting that the review has to be before the judicial officer who determined the matter in question.
However, Justice Zeija stated that being a principal judge, he has the powers to review all questionable files at the High Court because he is the overall supervisor of all High Court judges.
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“My view is that this is a simple dispute to resolve. Mohan Kiwanuka is either sane or insane. On the basis of the new facts that were pleaded, some of which admitted by the Respondent’s own witnesses in their affidavit in reply as indicated herein, it does no harm for the respondent to appear before this honourable court as it was done before my learned brother Hon. Justice Ssekaana Musa and matter is put to rest,” Dr. Zeija said.
He added, “The applicants will then be put to shame if their averments are incorrect. Mental status is a condition that can change within hours. Someone who is sane today may be insane tomorrow and vice versa.”
According to family members, Kiwanuka is in the hands of his second wife Maria Kiwanuka Nabasirye the former finance minister in president Museveni’s government who insists that she is the one who is supposed to comply with the Court orders and produce him before the judge to examine his mental capacity.
Since 2017, Maria Kiwanuka has been battling with her husband’s relatives who accuse her of denying them access to him so that they can give him medication and take good care of him.
They also accuse her and the family lawyers of being in connivence to mismanage Kiwanuka’s multibillion empire because he doesn’t understand what is going on which Maria and lawyers objected to in their several court documents.
