By Spy Uganda
Kampala: A proverb stating, ”Lend only an amount you can afford to lose…” because most people surely may not have that much anymore to pay you back and you end up broken and bitter…is a lesson to a one Joseph Arinaitwe.
Arinaitwe is in panic and fear of losing UGX230million a soft loan he extended to his cousin brother Ronald Ndyareeba to boost his business.
According to court documents, Arinaitwe extended a soft loan of Shs257 million to Ndyareeba in 2017 and 2018 but Ndyareeba has since only remitted Shs27m leaving Arinaitwe counting a loss of Shs230m.
Now, in order to ”legally default” the Shs230M, Ndyareeba filed an application before the Commercial Court, seeking its protection from not remitting the remaining loan balance to his brother.
In his application, Ndyareeba says his brother, Arinaitwe, was not licensed to extend to him the said loan, so he does not have the capacity to force him to pay it back.
But in his ruling, Justice Boniface Wamala observed that he has not seen any denial by Mr Ndyareeba of not having obtained an Shs257m loan from his brother and also that he had not seen any denial that he had made a part payment of Shs27m.
“The matters raised by the applicant (Mr Ndyareeba) appear to be based on technical denials, one that the respondent (Mr Arinaitwe) had no legal authority to lend any money to the applicant,” Justice Wamala ruled on January 5.
“On the facts before me, there is no evidence that the respondent (Mr Arinaitwe) was engaged in the business of money-lending without a licence. There is evidence that the transaction in issue was a private arrangement between persons known to each other. There is nothing illegal about such an arrangement. More importantly, where there is evidence that the money was actually advanced by the respondent and the applicant received it,” ruled the Judge adding;
”Questions on the respondent’s capacity to lend cannot constitute a reasonable or bona fide ground of defence to an action seeking recovery of such borrowed funds. As such, this claim by the applicant (Mr Ndyareeba) discloses no triable issue of fact or law. To that effect, Ndyareeba must pay the outstanding to his brother and the costs of the court matter.”
