The High Court in Jinja has ordered a mother and her son to pay Shs20 million to another son, a magistrate, after finding that they defamed him by accusing him of forgery, fraud, theft, and abuse of his judicial office.
The case was brought by Steven Johnson Waidhuuba, a Grade II Magistrate who worked in Kayunga and Mukono, against his biological mother, Lovisa Ayazika, and brother, Andrew Balondemu.
The dispute among the three started as a disagreement within a family over their late father’s property. However, it gradually grew into accusations that were published on family WhatsApp groups and online media.
At the centre of the dispute was the estate of the late A.Y.A. Baatakana Ayazika, who was the father of Waidhuuba and Balondemu and the husband of Ayazika.
The family disagreement mainly concerned land at Kasolo, Bwanalira Village in Iganga District.
Waidhuuba’s mother and brother accused him of trying to take control of their late father’s property, including land and a bank account. They alleged that he had used his judiciary connections to forge powers of attorney and a will to take control of the property.
The accusations against Waidhuuba were circulated in the family WhatsApp group and posted on some online media platforms.
He responded by taking his own mother and brother to court, arguing that the allegations were false and malicious and had damaged his reputation as a judicial officer.
The case proceeded without a defence from Lovisa Ayazika and Andrew Balondemu.
The first major step in the dispute was a letter written by Ayazika to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on April 19, 2022, in which Ayazika accused her son of claiming that his father had given him authority over the family properties and bank accounts.
She alleged that Waidhuuba “took over his father’s bank account and, using false documents, made himself signatory” and withdrew his father’s pension money.
She further alleged that he was using the money for his own activities instead of paying for his father’s medical bills.
Ayazika also accused her son of threatening to send her and her other children to prison because they had refused to recognise what she described as his “forged powers of attorney”.
She said her son had made the lives of his siblings “miserable” and that they lived in fear that he could harm them or frame charges against them.
She asked the JSC to stop him from using his position as a judicial officer to intimidate or harass the family.
She wrote that a young lawyer was a rapist. He took her to court and was awarded Shs 60 million
Justice Joanita Bushara said these allegations are serious because they directly attacked Waidhuuba’s honesty and his ability to serve as a Magistrate.
She said the allegations also suggested that Waidhuuba was using his position in the judiciary for personal gain and to harass his own family.
Balondemu, Waidhuuba’s brother, also made serious allegations against him in a letter to the JSC dated March 23, 2022, claiming that he had used his judicial office to arrest family members and concoct charges against them to take their land and property.
He alleged that Waidhuuba had assaulted his sister, caused the arrest of a mentally ill brother on what he called trumped-up charges, and assaulted an elderly woman before having her arrested.
In another letter to the director of CID dated December 21, 2021, Balondemu accused Waidhuuba of fraudulently preparing powers of attorney to take over the family’s six acres of land.
He also alleged that his brother could order police to arrest anyone who entered the land and boasted of having influence at CID, the JSC and the President’s Office.
The dispute later found its way into the media when a Daily Monitor online story published on July 16, 2024, carried the headline, “Magistrate accused by mother of forging will”.
The story repeated allegations that Waidhuuba had forged his late father’s will. The allegations were then shared on social media platforms, including X and Facebook.
The court said the publications attracted negative comments questioning Waidhuuba’s fitness to serve as a judicial officer.
The family had attempted mediation, but according to one witness, Daudi Waidhuuba Isendabaguzi Mpamuleyi, who was the head of the Abaise Muluuta clan and Waidhuuba’s paternal uncle, the conflict continued.
He told the court that during family mediation meetings in 2022, Balondemu threatened to write to Waidhuuba’s bosses to tarnish his name and cause him to lose his job.
Another witness, Jackson Wakayinja, testified that he overheard Registry staff at the Judiciary headquarters in Kampala discussing allegations that Waidhuuba had forged documents and was involved in a property dispute.
After reading the letters, Jackson said he understood the allegations to mean that Waidhuuba was a “thief, land grabber, and fraudster” who misused his judicial office.
Justice Bushara said this showed that the allegations had reached Waidhuuba’s professional colleagues.
She said the law can protect a genuine complaint made to a competent authority, but that protection does not apply where the complaint is made maliciously.
“It is correct that the law does not prohibit a person from making a genuine complaint to a competent authority concerning alleged wrongdoing,” she said.
She said the allegations went beyond asking authorities to investigate a family dispute because they portrayed Waidhuuba as a criminal, fraudster and dishonest judicial officer.
Justice Bushara said Ayazika and Balondemu had failed to prove that the allegations were true because they neither filed a defence nor appeared at the formal proof hearing to challenge Waidhuuba’s evidence.
“I find on the balance of probabilities that the allegations complained of were false,” she ruled.
She said Waidhuuba’s position as a magistrate made the allegations particularly damaging because judicial officers depend heavily on public confidence in their honesty and integrity.
In the end, Justice Bushra ruled in favour of Waidhuuba and awarded him Shs20 million in general damages at an interest rate of 6% per year from September 1, 2026.
She also issued a permanent injunction stopping Ayazika, Balondemu, their agents, or anyone acting through them from publishing the defamatory allegations against Waidhuuba.
