By Abubaker Kirunda & Tausi Nakato
The Iganga Resident High Court Judge, Justice David Batema, has revealed how the Royal Wedding between Kyabazinga William Gabula Nadiope IV and Ms Jovia Mutesi was pulled off amidst court injunction threats.
The couple tied the knot on November 18 at Christ’s Cathedral, Bugembe in Jinja North City Division, and thereafter hosted their guests to a reception at the Kyabazinga’s Igenge Palace.
Prior to the wedding, the Church of Uganda was hit by court injunction threats from Ms Anna Alison, through her United Kingdom (UK)-based lawyers, Anne Cuthbert Solicitors, which was addressed to Busoga Kingdom head of clans.
Ms Alison alleged that she got married to the Kyabazinga in December 2016 and since then, he has not divorced her, and that once he enters into another marriage, he would be committing bigamy which is punishable by imprisonment for up to six months under the UK law.
Later, Mugerwa and Partners Advocates and Solicitors, acting on behalf of Ms Anna Alison, sought Church of Uganda’s intervention to stop the wedding on grounds that the Kyabazinga was already legally married to her.
However, the Katuukiro (Prime Minister) of Busoga Kingdom, Mr Joseph Muvawala, later addressed the allegations, saying the monarch has neither ever been married to anyone under the known forms of marriage nor sired any children.
Now, Justice Batema, who was allegedly directly involved in the mediation process to convince the Church to preside over a wedding, pending court injunction threats, says the matter became “complicated” when top religious leaders had declined to be part of the function.
“The Church of Uganda had believed social media reports about the Kyabazinga’s alleged first marriage and it took us about two to three meetings, all held under tension, to convince the Archbishop [Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu] to preside over the wedding,’’ Justice Batema said on Friday.
Justice Batema, who was delivering a keynote address at the International Human Rights Defenders’ Day celebrations in Jinja City on Saturday, said they held three different meetings and looked for all evidence that could exonerate the Kyabazinga and convince the Church to conduct the wedding.
The wedding was eventually conducted by Archbishop, The Most Rev Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu Kaziimba, but only after some facts were presented before him, including contacting a Ugandan United Kingdom (UK)-based lawyer to investigate whether the civil wedding ever took place in Portsmouth, London.
“I had to contact a UK-based Ugandan lawyer from Pader District, Mr Aldo Okot, to help us search in London if there was such a marriage between the Kyabazinga and Ms Alison, he went to the Registrar and confirmed that there was no such a marriage,’’ Justice Batema said.
He added that the number on the alleged marriage certificate provided by Ms Alison’s lawyers was also fake as it had no marriage certificate attached. “It only had the serial number which was also fake. According to our investigations, that is not the way numbers are serialised in the UK,’’ he said, adding that they also unearthed that the Kyabazinga was in the UK in 2015, not 2016 as alleged by Ms Alison.
Justice Batema further revealed that they also proved to the Church of Uganda that the correct names of the Kyabazinga, as per his travel documents, is Wilberforce Nadiope, and that those (names) circulated on social media (William Gabula Nadiope Kadhumbula IV) were different.
Justice Batema says he told the meeting with the Archbishop that the photos being circulated on social media purporting to be of the Kyabazinga with one of his alleged children did not depict his true size, further enforcing the Judge’s belief that it was not the embattled monarch.
He added: “I am the one who presided over the Kyabazinga’s swearing-in ceremony in 2014, whose weight was over 144kgs, but when we compared the social media photos, the person purported to be the Kyabazinga was about 75kgms, meaning he was a different person.’’
According to Justice Batema, during attempts to block the wedding, the purported complainant made a call requesting for Shs750m to give up the issue, leaving them wondering how a lady can drop her marriage in exchange for Shs750m.
“The complainant was even telling the wedding organising committee that the Shs750m was meagre and could even be got from a single cheque offered by MTN as its contribution towards the wedding,’’ Justice Batema, who was part of the committee, said.
During the wedding, the Archbishop invited whoever had reasons why he shouldn’t preside over the Royal Wedding to step up or forever hold their silence and nobody did, city lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi on November 20 filed a suit at Jinja Magistrates’ Court challenging the nuptial as “illegal”.
Mr Mabirizi preferred charges against the Kyabazinga, Ms Mutesi, Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu and the Queen of Buganda Kingdom, Ms Sylvia Nagginda, who signed on the marriage certificate.
However, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), has since ordered Mr Mabirizi to provide any information of evidential value to the Police Criminal Intelligence Department .
The Church of Uganda Provincial Secretary, Mr Balaam Muheebwa, said as a Church, they did the right thing to conduct the wedding because nothing much was deterring it.
The Spokesperson of Buganda Kingdom, Mr Israel Kazibwe Kitooke, said they have no worry with Mabirizi’s case because “we have defeated him several times”.
