By Our Reporter,
KAMPALA
In a precedent-setting ruling, the court ordered Kinyara Sugar Limited to pay a Masindi farmer, Mahmoud Kazimbiraine, a total of Shs160,787,200 (approximately $42,000 USD) in damages for breaching a cane production contract.
The court sitting at Praxis Conflict Centre Limited in Kololo Kampala found that Kinyara Sugar Limited had harvested cane outside the stipulated age range and failed to notify the farmer prior to harvest, breaching clauses 5.2 and 6.2 of the contract.
The court found also that the claimant, Mahmoud Kazimbiraine followed proper procedures to terminate his contract contrary to allegations by the respondent, Kinyara Sugar Limited in the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Masindi.
According to the court, the contract was properly terminated on 2 March, 2023.
“I declare that the claimant’s claim arising from the cane production contract prior to its termination were not rendered moot by the purported proceedings in the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Masindi at Masindi,” said Hon. Justice (Rtd) Bart Magunda Katureebe, Chief Justice Emeritus, the arbitrator in the matter at Praxis Conflict Centre limited, on Monday.
The Judge however, declined a request by Kazimbiraine for compensation for loss of income.
Court ruled that Kinyara Sugar LTD (the respondent) breached clause 5.2 of the contract by harvesting ration 5, outside the stipulated age range, as well as Clauses 5.2 and 6.2 of the same by failing to notify the claimant prior to the harvest.
Kazimbiraine was awarded special damages of Shs61,787,200 (sixty one million, seven hundred eighty seven thousand, two hundred shillings). The court also awarded the claimant Shs99 million as general damages.
Additionally, Justice Katureebe also ordered the value of the cane to be paid with interest of 8 percent per annum from the date of filing this claim until payment in full, and another 8 percent interest on general damages from the date of this award till payment in full and was also awarded the cost of the arbitrary proceedings.
The claimant and his lawyers from Ssewankambo and Co. Advocates welcomed the ruling stating that it sets a significant precedent for farmer’s rights in Uganda, and added that companies should adhere to contractual agreements.
