In a major blow to businessman Patrick Bitature, the Court of Appeal has rejected what critics are calling a calculated legal move to stall the sale of six prime properties including the upscale Protea Skyz Hotel used as collateral for a ballooning $10 million loan taken a decade ago.
Simba Properties and Simba Telecom, both linked to Bitature, had petitioned the court for an emergency injunction to stop the sale. But in a unanimous decision last week, Justices Frederick Egonda-Ntende, Eva K. Luswata, and Esta Nambayo dismissed the application, citing lack of jurisdiction due to ongoing arbitration.
The ruling comes after years of legal wrangling in a high-stakes dispute with Vantage Mezzanine Fund II Partnership, a foreign investment fund that lent the companies $10 million in 2014. The loan, meant to fund luxury developments in Kampala, has reportedly skyrocketed to Shs 134 billion due to interest and penalties.
Facing enforcement of the mortgage terms, Bitature’s companies launched a legal counteroffensive, arguing that Vantage was not a legally recognized entity in Uganda—based on a 2021 High Court technical ruling. This formed the crux of their claim that the loan agreement and the mortgages it was built on were invalid.
Observers, however, see this as part of a broader pattern of delay and deflection by the companies. The High Court already ruled in 2022 that any dispute must go through arbitration, as required by the original loan agreement. That arbitration is already underway.
Still, Bitature’s legal team attempted to bypass this process by appealing to the Court of Appeal—raising eyebrows among legal experts familiar with Uganda’s Arbitration and Conciliation Act, which strictly limits court interference in arbitration matters.
“This was always a long shot,” one legal analyst commented. “The courts have made it clear: you can’t sign an arbitration clause and then try to sidestep it when things go south.”
The Court of Appeal agreed, declaring it had no power to intervene. “There is no right of appeal that exists in our law against the decision intended to be appealed from,” the judges wrote, effectively slamming the door on further delays.
With this latest ruling, the road appears clear for the enforcement of the mortgage—meaning the sale of the properties, including the landmark hotel, could proceed.
For Bitature, once hailed as a symbol of Ugandan entrepreneurship, the case is turning into a cautionary tale of what happens when high-stakes borrowing meets legal brinkmanship.
