The Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by two companies, Simba Properties Investment Co. Ltd and Simba Telecom Ltd, to temporarily stop the sale of six properties they had mortgaged over a loan. The properties include Protea Skyz Hotel on Naguru hill.
In a ruling last week, the court said it lacks the power to get involved because the case is tied to an ongoing arbitration process, not regular court proceedings.
The decision, made by Justices Frederick Egonda-Ntende, Eva K. Luswata, and Esta Nambayo, originates from a long-running financial dispute betwee the companies, owned by businessman Patrick Bitature and Vantage Mezzanine Fund II Partnership, a foreign investment fund.
Ten years ago, the companies borrowed $10m (Shs 36 billion) from Vantage to invest in the 14-unit Moyo Close apartments and Skyz Hotel in Naguru. However by 2023, the loan had ballooned to Shs 134 billion. Bitature used the properties as collateral (like a security deposit). They mortgaged these assets to .
Trouble started when Bitature’s companies claimed Vantage did not legally exist, based on a 2021 High Court ruling by Justice Musa Ssekaana. They argued this made the mortgages invalid, and they shouldn’t have to repay or lose the properties.
In 2022, they sued in the High Court to challenge the fund’s attempts to sell the properties through lawyers and auctioneers.
But the High Court’s Justice Phillip Odoki Mubiru dismissed that lawsuit and a related request for a temporary block on the sale in February 2022. He ruled that the issues like whether the mortgages are valid, breached, or even exist fall under the original loan agreement, which requires disputes to be settled through arbitration (a private process outside courts, like mediation with a binding decision).
Arbitration was already underway, so under Uganda’s Arbitration and Conciliation Act, courts can’t step in. Section 9 of the Act clearly states: “Except as provided in this Act, no court shall intervene in matters governed by this Act.”
Unhappy with that, Simba Properties and Simba Telecom appealed to the Court of Appeal and asked for an emergency injunction to pause any property sales while their appeal is heard. They filed a notice of appeal in June 2022 and supported their request with an affidavit from Bitature.
But the respondents—law firm Kirunda and Wasige Advocates (acting for Vantage), auctioneers Quickway, and the Commissioner of Land Registration—fought back. They argued the Court of Appeal has no jurisdiction because the law bars appeals in arbitration-related matters unless specifically allowed. The land commissioner said they’d follow whatever the court decides.
In their ruling, the judges agreed with the High Court. They explained that the core fight is about the loan agreement and its mortgages, which are already in arbitration. Allowing an appeal would violate the Act’s no-intervention rule.
“It follows that there is no right of appeal that exists in our law against the decision intended to be appealed from,” the judges wrote. “We therefore have no jurisdiction to entertain this application.”
The application was dismissed, and Bitature’s companies were ordered to pay the respondents’ legal costs.
The companies were represented by John Mary Mugisha and others, while the main respondents had lawyers like Robert Kirunda.
