In what came across as the first public rejection of what was ostensibly meant to be a bribe, 22 years ago, earlier this month, Justice James Ogoola rejected a ‘soda’ offered to him by a city tycoon whose cases he was presiding over. Justice Ogoola told a court session that he was presiding over on October 7, 2003, that the tycoon, Mr Muhammad Majyambere, offered him an envelope with the ‘soda’ sealed inside it.
“I could not accept the small envelope, because I thought it was against my conscience and code of conduct. I accepted the condolence message. I called you [Majyambere] here to tell you that I did not accept the envelope,’ Ogoola said, looking straight into the embarrassed businessman’s eyes. Whereas Justice Ogoola, who was at the time the head of the Commercial Court, did not reveal how much was involved, Mr Majyambere, later told journalists that the ‘soda’ was in the form of cash amounting to ‘just Shs100,000’. At the time, the tycoon was Djibouti’s consular general to Uganda, and the judge’s going public, it was feared, had not only embarrassed the businessman, but also threatened to strain relations between Uganda and Djibouti.
The offer
The tycoon offered the money to the judge on October 2, 2003, at All Saints Church in Nakasero during a funeral service for the judge’s mother-in-law. The judge revealed that the tycoon had, during the said service, passed on the huge envelope through his wife, whom the businessman had not even known or met before.
At the time, Justice Ogoola’s wife was a resident of the United States of America and had only briefly flown back to Uganda to attend her mother’s funeral. According to The Monitor of October 8, 2003, the judge kept the envelope sealed until October 7, 2003, when he called Mr Majyambere’s lawyers and the media in court to witness the dramatic handover of the envelope.
The judge told the packed court that the big envelope that the tycoon handed over contained both what could be looked at as a normal condolence message along with a smaller envelope that contained the ‘soda’. Inscribed on the small envelope were the words ‘contribution for a soda’. The judge read the words out to the court. According to The Monitor, Mr Majyambere who seemed uneasy as the judge went public on the soda, stood up and raised his hand several times which was an indicator that he had something to say, but Justice Ogoola ignored him and went on to tell the story uninterrupted.
After making the stunning revelations, Justice Ogoola handed over the ‘soda’ envelope to Majyambere’s lawyers, Mr Augustine Semakula of Semakula and Company Advocates and Fred Ntende of Ntende and Company Advocates. He instructed the lawyers to pass on the envelope which was still unopened to their client.
Recusal
Justice Ogoola was suspicious that the offer of ‘soda’ was linked to the three cases involving Mr Majyambere, which he was at the time dealing with.
The cases civil suit number 229 in which Mr Majyambere through his company, East African Foam, sued the Attorney General seeking to recover property worth Shs2 billion. The second case was one in which the tycoon sued the government along with the East African Trade and Development Bank, the Metropolitan Properties Limited and Fulgence Mungerera, a certified public accountant.
He claimed that his property which comprised of a modern foam making factory along 8th Street Industrial Area was fraudulently sold by the government. He was seeking an order of court annulling the sale and a cancelation of the land title on Plot 9-11, registered in the names of Metropolitan Properties Limited. The tycoon also sought compensation for the wrongful sale. The third case was one that had been brought against the tycoon by Trust Bank Limited seeking to recover $50,000 from him.
The judge pulled out of all three cases to avoid any risk of bias in his judgements. “I am now pulling out of his cases. The file is going to be taken back to the registrar for reallocation to another judge who will handle the cases afresh,’ he declared.
Reallocation
However, rather than allocate all three to the same judge, the cases were split up and allocated to different judges. The case in which the tycoon sought to recover property worth Shs2b was, for example, allocated to Justice Edmond Sempa Lugayizi, also of the Commercial Court. Justice Lugayizi retired from the bench in May 2014, having clocked the retirement age of 65 in February that year. The case involving Trust Bank was allocated to Justice Stella Arach-Amoko. Lady Justice Arach-Amoko died on June 17, 2023.
In Defence
Speaking to The Monitor on the evening of October 7, 2003, the tycoon said he was surprised by the judge’s allegation, adding that he had only made a contribution towards the funeral expenses as any other mourner would have done. He admitted that he did not know the judge’s wife and had not met her before. He said it was the master of ceremonies who had pointed her out to him. “It was only Shs100,000 for buying 10 crates of soda. There wasn’t anything beyond that. How could I bribe a judge in church?’ the businessman mused.
The tycoon told The Monitor that he had made another contribution, which he dropped in the offertory bag as it was being passed around. ‘It is clumsy to attend a funeral and not make any contribution,’ Mr Majyambere said. He said unbeknownst to Justice Ogoola, a friend of his, who he did not name, had introduced him to the judge’s deceased mother-in-law as far back as 1994.
As such, he needed no invitation to attend the funeral of a friend, he said. The newspaper quoted him, adding in Swahili, ‘I have attended funerals of other people I did not even know.’
Elevation
Justice Ogoola left the Commercial Court at the end of July 2004 when he was named Principal Judge, taking over from Justice Herbert Ntabagoba, who died in April 2020. He retired from the Judiciary in 2010 after clocking 65 years of age, which is the mandatory retirement age for judges of the High Court.
However, whereas the public rejection of the alleged bribe will stand out as one of the things that will define his legacy, his poetry in the wake of the November 2007 invasion of the High Court premises in Kampala will no doubt stand out.
The court was invaded by armed men clad in black T-shirts and military fatigue bottoms and wielding special military grade assault weapons. Their mission?
Abort hearing of a bail application by suspected rebels of the People’s Redemption Army (PRA). The men had, along with Opposition leader Kizza Besigye, been charged with treason.
The invasion meant that the hearing that was meant to be presided over by Justice Edmond Ssempa Lugayizi did not take place.
Justice Ogoola subsequently described the invasion as a ‘despicable act’, a ‘rape of the Judiciary’ on ‘a day of infamy’.
That, much more than the rejected ‘soda’, is what is most likely to define his legacy as a defender of the pillars of justice.