In what could be one of the most complex divorce rulings in the country, the High Court Family Division in Makindye last week granted a divorce between former President Museveni’s Advisor and a top city Businessman, ending an eight-year-old legal battle.
Justice Ketrah Katunguka of the Makindye-based High Court Family Division on April, 1, dissolved the marriage between former Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Duties, Doctor Elizabeth Nabatanzi Lugudde and her estranged husband Samuel Lugudde over adultery.
Samuel Lugudde had filed for divorce in 2015 on grounds that Nabatanzi had committed adultery when she sired two children while knowing she was still married to him. He also sought to have Nabatanzi barred from using the name Lugudde because they had ceased to be husband and wife.
Lugudde also asked court to allow him to repossess all the properties in the possession of Nabatanzi courtesy of their marriage.
In her ruling, Lady Justice Katunguka indicated that the marriage between the two could no longer be sustainable and resolved it on grounds of cruelty, and adultery.
“Having found that both parties committed adultery and got married to other people during the subsistence of their marriage shows that in effect their marriage ended long ago.
It is not clear who deserted whom, marriage being a space where a husband and a wife live together as a couple, must be seen either in their concerted actions, plans and property acquisition by the parties,” Katunguka submitted.
Lugudde told court that he got married to the respondent in 1980 and the two took their vows at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala.
Together, they produced six children at their home in Bale Village Bulemezi County Luwero district.
In 1984, Nabatanzi travelled to the United States of America and was joined by her husband in 1986. They produced six children.
When they arrived in the US, Lugudde says, his wife’s conduct started changing. That she served him with documents claiming that they are divorce certificates which he also signed.
He told court that Nabatanzi got married to another man, a one Robert Dillard and they even produced two children yet their marriage was not yet resolved.
He added that because of Nabatanzi’s cruelty, he went under mental and emotional pain, he prayed to court that his Lugudde name be removed from the names used by the respondent.
However, in her defence, Nabatanzi also accused Lugudde of being an adulterous man.
She tabled evidence showing that he sired nine children out of their marriage wedlock.
She told court that she did not object to the divorce but only insisted on remaining with Lugudde name, a prayer the judge agreed with.
On the issue of properties, court established that there were no matrimonial properties because the land on Block 493 plot 27 and a house that sits on it belongs to Lugudde and land on Block 424 plot 36 at Mpala Entebbe Municipality belongs to Nabatanzi.
Court also ruled that the property comprised in Block 34 plot 63 land at Bale Bulemeezi over a square Mile, belongs to the respondent (Nabatanzi) and it’s not matrimonial property.
Court also ruled that each party was to bear their own costs.
Nabatanzi told this publication that Lugudde had given the land in Bulemezi to her in 1983, and even had it registered in her name. He, however, sought to repossess it.
She said she was satisfied with the ruling and called for all stakeholders to refocus on the rights of women in marriage as a way of protecting their interests and promoting gender equality.
The ruling marks great significance in as far as marriage rights are concerned especially in a country where women have very little if any rights in the event of divorce.
Customary practices in Uganda about land ownership also often leave women greatly marginalised in contrast to their male counterparts.
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