Back Strike: Top City Lawyer Kagoro Moves to Squeeze UGX6Bn In Legal Fees from a Chinese Construction Company For their Efforts to Abuse His Profession

Had they negotiated with him on how to down-facilitate his legal efforts running over years, this story wouldn’t stand to be told in its form. But China Railway No3 Engineering Group Co. Limited believed in eating their cake and having it at the same time. This stance, not even sparing his reputation as a renowned lawyer around town! And hence the story.

It all started about 10 years ago when, directors of the said construction company sauntered into the now defunct Muwema and Mugerwa Co. Advocates along Kintante Road adjacent to NRM Secretariate. Reason? To have their Chinese based Company registered locally in Uganda for business. This task, Counsel Friday Roberts Kagoro performed to its completion, helping the foreign company to legally compete for business in Uganda.

Indeed, the Company started off with registering business with Ugandan government, majorly in road construction. From here, they officially elected to retain now Muwema and Co. Advocates as their legal brains, with Roberts Kagoro as the focal person. All went well and business was secured until around early 2020 when, bids were collected for road construction in Hoima, Fort Portal, and Kaseese. China Railways is among the bidder companies and whose bid was friendlier with slightly over UGX84Bn reserved price.

However, at the time of awarding the contract, China Railways bid was slid under the carpet in favor of their competitors whose reserved price was over UGX11Bn away at slightly over UGX96Bn. Given the margin, coupled with the fact that the reasons for not considering them were technically wanting, China Railways officially instructed Kagoro to challenge the process by petitioning the Public Procurement and Disposal of public Assets Authority (PPDA) Appeals Tribunal. This instruction, Kagoro religiously expensed as directed.

“In any case, the Applicant (China Railways) had the lowest bid price of UGX 84,796,690,927 VAT exclusive as compared to the best evaluated bidder with a bid price of UGX 96,099,386,711 VAT exclusive. Therefore, awarding the contract at UGX 96,099,386,711 will lead to loss of UGX 11,302,695,784 on a matter that could have been easily clarified or due diligence undertaken,” Kagoro labored to school PPDA in one of the many petitions and appeals to the effect.

On their first attempt to petition, the China Railways lost. But persuaded that they had a good case, coupled with the fact that the reason for knocking them out was on the side of PPDA in all aspects, they instructed Kagoro to file an appeal, to which, he again kowtowed. Little did the Chinese know they were dealing with Ugandan typical bread of public officials. For they again, lost the first appeal. Not done, the Chinese, determined beyond technical doubt they had a good case, they instructed Kagoro to pursue on with another appeal.

Seeing the Chinese were consistently pursuing the matter and wont tire until its conclusion, and in their favor, their competitors sought them out. Impeccable sources inform us that for their own good, and for the job protection of those who helped them through, the successful bidder resolved to `compensate` the China Railways. The sum of the buy-out is, but subject to verification before our mention. However, upon conclusion with their competitors, the Chinese went all by themselves, to withdraw the petitions filed for them by Muwema and Company Advocates, and in particular, Counsel Kagoro.

However, they were informed of their inability to withdraw the case by themselves. “Reference is made to the subject Application you filed with PPDA Appeals Tribunal and your subsequent withdrawal of the matter. Further to your letter of withdrawal which the Appeals Tribunal received on 26.3.2021, Counsel Roberts Kagoro is advised to appear in person before the Tribunal on 31.3.2021 at 2:00 pm at Grand Imperial Hotel Pool View Hall to withdraw the matter, Jude Lubega, the PPDA Senior Legal Officer advised the Chinese.

Left with no option, the Chinese now sought Kagoro`s attention with information on how they had negotiated with their competitors and were now, desirous of withdrawing the Appeal. The lawyer kowtowed to their plea, filed for the official withdrawal of the matter after which, he served the clients with the Invoice of the now closed matter. One would think this served to bring the matter to bed. But this is far away from the fact.

The Back Strike

In what sounded to him like a dream, the Chinese instead invited Kagoro to pick his Law Firm`s fee, limping in the region of less than UGX10M! For starters, Kagoro is among the few softly lethal advocates Kampala has ever produced. And this fact, the Chinese seem to have had a clue. For, they immediately dragged him to the Law Council Tribunal, claiming that he served them with an invoice for doing a job he had no official instructions to do! What happened at the Law Council marks the beginning of the long story whose journey starts today (July 12^th 2023) at the Civil Division of the High Court. Watch this space…

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Jako David Waluluka: Mr. Jacko David Waluluka is another unique entertainment and general investigative news writer, a field he has diligently covered for over fifteen years. He’s also the Chief Administrator at The Investigator. He can easily be reached via [email protected]