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This week, chaos erupted inside Jinja Magistrate Mukanzha’s chambers when siblings of the great Kadama family of Jinja exchanged hot words during court proceedings relating to late Dr. Ivan Sajja Kadama’s estate.
He was one of the very first Ugandans to become a medical doctor and he died more than 46 years ago; leaving behind lots of money, commercial buildings, vehicles and prime land in Mayuge, Iganga, Jinja and other parts of Busoga. He left three wives and not less than 20 children who are now adults with even grandchildren. He left a will though.
But unfortunately, the Kadama siblings have become split into rival camps following heir Dr. Patrick Kadama (who recently retired from the WHO in Geneva)’s failure to treat each one of them considerately. As heir, Dr. Patrick Kadama has allegedly taken over almost everything. He has declared himself sole owner of the more than 3,000 acres of their late father’s land at Magamaga in Mayuge district.
Because they are grown up people and materially very successful, the Kadama siblings had decided to let Dr. Patrick be but they considered it the unacceptable crossing of the red line and going too far in testing the fence when he recently fenced off another 50 acres of family land at Wairaka in Jinja City which is the ancestral burial ground where their father, mother, brothers and children have all been buried over the years.
The Wairaka land has more than 20 graves including that of one of the Kadama brothers whose wife was buried there recently and even the construction of her grave hasn’t yet been completed. The brother is saddened that he can’t access his deceased wife’s grave to give her decent burial because the burial grounds has been barricaded and one needs the heir’s permission to access it.
To access the burial grounds and be able to have a family meeting from there to agree on the distribution of Ivan Sajja Kadama’s property as beneficiaries, the anti-Patrick Kadama siblings were shocked to realize that they needed express permission from the heir.
As Patrick Kadama, closely backed by his wife Dr. Christine Kadama and daughter Dr. Christine Kadama, struggles to get rival siblings’ duly obtained letters of administration revoked, the other siblings (15 of them against the other 4 that are pro-him) secured a Court order allowing them to meet at the Wairaka burial grounds and have their properties and assets sharing or distribution-related meeting on 14th March this very year.
The aggrieved 15 siblings are angry that the stinking rich and naturally very proud Dr. Patrick Kadama can overstretch his powers as heir to the point of preventing them from taking possession of and enjoying part of the state that their late father willed and bequeathed to them in writing.
His will is there and they want a meeting to share out the estate as was willed by their deceased father as opposed to having some of Ivan Sajja Kadama’s grandchildren continuing to be homeless yet their fathers and mothers were bequeathed a share of the property as is well stipulated in the written will whose contents no one is contesting. This public quarreling over the deceased’s property is very embarrassing and disparaging too to the Kadama brand.
It has always been a family of very proud Kadama sons, daughters and grandchildren. The anti-Patrick Kadama siblings believe that in mistreating and seeking to exclude and sideline others, Dr. Patrick is being influenced by a number of factors including the desire to work with his business partner Nelson Kituuka, the proprietor of the money lending firm Card Pesa in Kampala, who actually marries his daughter Dr. Rachael Kadama.
The duo also has a company called Tina Investments to which the Magamaga land has been leased without consulting other Kadama family members. The duo is working on a joint venture business to engage in coffee growing and processing of coffee to which Dr.
Christine Kadama’s husband Nelson Kituuka (a big-name money lender in Kampala) became more and more attracted after the GoU stepped in not very long ago and capped interest rates above which money lenders like him shouldn’t be advancing loans.
He is believed to lately have been mobilizing lots of money and savings to go into large scale coffee farming, processing and exportation because of the ongoing coffee boom. However, the whole thing might end in tears because no serious credible investor would be comfortable having his or her savings invested and sunk into such a huge coffee growing and processing enterprise that is being anchored and implemented on land that is synonymous with ownership disputes as is now the case with the 3,000 acres of the Kadama family land at Magamaga.
All said and done, the Patrick Kadama faction seemed to have had an upper hand during this week’s proceedings in the Jinja Magistrates Court as even the presiding Magistrate didn’t seem comfortable contradicting them on anything.
Because they are powerful and vastly connected with a lot of money, even Court officials in Jinja seemed cowed and intimidated to just be in their presence because the bitter truth is that the Patrick Kadama faction doesn’t seem to have any money or cash flow-related problems especially that their billionaire son-in-law Nelson Kituuka is solidly on board and behind them at every point of the way.
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