When British American businessman Craig Whitehead teamed up with two Ugandan partners, Benjamin Buhikire and Simon Gombekwa, he believed he was helping build a promising venture in Uganda.
Instead, Buhikire and Gombekwa quietly diverted more than Shs 228 million that Whitehead sent for company projects and used it for themselves.
Does this sound familiar? For years, Uganda has seen repeated scandals involving locals taking off with money from foreign partners. The most famous was Shanita Namuyimbwa, aka Bad Black, who became the face of financial betrayal after she was convicted of stealing billions from her British lover and business partner.
According to court records, Whitehead and Buhikire began discussing business opportunities in 2021. By early 2022, they had incorporated a company together in Uganda known as Alexander and Renae Holding East Africa Limited.
A company search report filed in court shows that Whitehead owned 50 shares, his relative Brayden Alexander Whitehead owned 40, and Buhikire held 4. Gombekwa was listed as the company secretary.
The plan, as Whitehead later told the court, was that he would provide the capital while the two Ugandans managed the work on the ground in Uganda, including finding land, overseeing construction preparations and receiving machinery.
Whitehead said he trusted the two men because they were locals while he was based in the United States. He testified that they told him they would handle the legwork, and in exchange, Buhikire would receive a stake in the business and Gombekwa would be paid as an employee.
With this understanding, Whitehead began sending money. Evidence presented in court shows that between October 2021 and December 2022, he transferred $57,887 (Shs 209 million) to Buhikire through Cash App to pay for land, construction materials and equipment for the business.
During one trip to Uganda in 2022, he gave Gombekwa an additional $9,000 (Shs 32 million) in cash as the final payment for land they claimed to have bought on his behalf.
In total, Whitehead sent $62,937 (Shs 228 million). For months after the transfers, he kept asking his partners for proof that the money had been used for the business. WhatsApp conversations filed in court show him pleading repeatedly for land titles, receipts, proof of purchase and company documents.
The conversations show a pattern where Whitehead kept asking questions and the responses from the two Ugandans grew vague or evasive. At one point, they claimed to have started a block making and culvert business that had already made Shs 14 million profit, but when Whitehead asked for evidence, none was produced.
Whitehead demanded accountability on multiple occasions, but Buhikire and Gombekwa men never provided documents. At one point, he said, they even switched off their phones and he could not access them.
He took them to court.
In court, Buhikire and Gombekwa denied everything, a typically Ugandan thing. They argued that they had never received money from Whitehead and suggested that the business had never really operated in Uganda.
They also claimed that the matter should be heard in the United States and that Gombekwa had ceased being a company secretary and should not be sued.
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Justice Patience Rubagumya who heard the case said it was not in dispute that Buhikire and Gombekwa had received Whitehead’s money.
She observed that Buhikire and Gombekwa failed to provide receipts, land titles or any documents to prove that they had used Whitehead’s funds for legitimate investment.
She ruled that their conduct amounted to unjust enrichment because they took money for investment, did not use it for the intended purpose and refused to refund it when asked.
Justice Rubagumya said Buhikire and Gombekwa did not file any documents to defend themselves even after being given several opportunities.
In the end, she ordered Buhikire and Gombekwa to refund the Shs 288 million in full. She also awarded Whitehead general damages of Shs 30 million for “financial loss, suffering and inconvenience”.
Ugandans are not easy!
