The war over the late Dr James Musinguzi Garuga’s vast business empire is no longer a quiet boardroom quarrel. It has turned into a full-blown storm of accusations, secret land deals, disputed appointments and millions of shillings whose trail no one can fully explain.
And at the heart of it all is Incafex Company Ltd — a company said to sit on top of factories, ranches and thousands of land titles.The man who lit the latest fire is Mathew Rukiikaire. He says he is not an outsider begging for favours. He says he owns 45% of Incafex Ltd and Garuga Properties — and he has a Supreme Court judgment to prove it.
In 2017, five justices of the Supreme Court ruled in his favour, confirming his 45% stake and ordering a special audit to clean up the ownership mess once and for all.Rukiikaire says that audit has never happened. Nearly a decade later, he claims, the order is still gathering dust while the company’s assets keep disappearing.
That is why he reportedly ran to President Yoweri Museveni. In his petition, he alleged that people connected to the late Garuga’s estate were disposing of company property without board resolutions, without authorisation, and without regard for the court.
He told the President that most of the valuable assets had already been stripped away. Only two ranches were left standing — Ranch No. 9 in Singo and Ranch No. 41 in Masaka — both already taken over by government.
Rukiikaire asked for one thing: let his 45% compensation for those two ranches be paid directly to him, and let the rest be locked in court until the Supreme Court-ordered audit is finally done.Museveni is said to have acted on that plea, directing the Attorney General and the Minister of Lands to start the compensation process on those terms.
But instead of calming the storm, the intervention has opened a new battlefront involving Garuga’s widow Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza, city lawyer Agaba Maguru alias Musigi, and Henry Hapa Nganwa.The trio is accused by Rukiikaire’s camp of resisting the directive and trying to turn the President’s intervention into a scapegoat for legal troubles they allegedly created for themselves.
One of the most explosive issues is an Shs800 million government payment processed in 2025 to help the ailing Dr Garuga get specialised treatment abroad.The money came from a long-standing compensation claim dating back to the 1990s, when government took over Ranch 35 in Mawogola.
The total bill was assessed at around Shs13.7 billion, but payment dragged on for years.When Garuga fell seriously ill in early 2025, he reportedly petitioned then Finance Minister Matia Kasaija for an urgent partial release. Court papers cited in the dispute allege the Shs800 million was meant for Garuga Cooperative Ltd’s account at Bank of Africa.
Instead, it allegedly landed in an account belonging to Garuga Properties Ltd at the same bank — an account where Maguru is said to have been a signatory.
How the destination account was changed, who authorised it, and how the money was later withdrawn and shared, remain unanswered questions that continue to fuel suspicion.Then there is the leadership question. Maguru, who served as company secretary, is accused of allegedly elevating himself to director in Garuga Properties Ltd, Incafex Ltd and Kinkiizi Development Company Ltd without board approval.
The Registrar of Companies is said to have later struck him off the directors’ list after Rukiikaire petitioned the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, arguing the appointments were secured through forged documents.But the land claims are even bigger.Despite a Supreme Court interim injunction barring any sale, mortgage, lease or transfer of the disputed estates until the audit is complete, several properties are alleged to have changed hands anyway.
Among them: 2,000 acres said to have been sold in Ngoma, Nakaseke; about nine square miles allegedly disposed of in Kabula, Lyantonde; 849 hectares on Block 1004, Plot 2 in Bulemezi whose title allegedly ended up in the names of Charles Byaruhanga; and a 296.74-hectare estate on Block 516, Plot 12 at Busanga, Kome Island, allegedly leased to Erunger Property Limited — a firm accused of having fictitious directors — through a lease said to have been prepared by Maguru’s law firm in 2024.
None of these allegations, on their own, prove criminal guilt. But together, they have reignited demands for what Rukiikaire has wanted since 2017: an independent audit, a transparent account of every shilling and every title, and strict enforcement of the Supreme Court’s orders before the last of Garuga’s empire is gone.
