KAMPALA: The long-running battle for control of tycoon Mohan Musisi Kiwanuka’s multi-billion estate has taken a new twist, with the Law Council now set to convene on Tuesday for the final hearing of a complaint filed by former Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka against her stepson, Jordan Ssebuliba Kiwanuka.
Sources close to the proceedings indicate the Council is poised to dismiss what insiders have described as a “bogus” professional misconduct suit, in what would be another major setback for Maria in the protracted family war.
Maria dragged Jordan to the Law Council accusing him of using his influence in the family companies to swindle money and illegally occupying estate properties. She claimed his actions amounted to professional misconduct.
Jordan’s camp has dismissed the petition as a diversionary tactic designed to fight him in every forum after losing the main property battle in court.
This latest Law Council clash cannot be understood without the wider Kiwanuka family scandal that has dominated headlines since 2019.
Background: A Dynasty in Chaos
At the heart of the dispute is Mohan Kiwanuka, 81, founder of a vast empire spanning media – including Radio One and Akaboozi – real estate with over 46 prime properties, 26 in Kololo alone, manufacturing through Oscar Industries, and horticulture.
The family rift pits his two households against each other. On one side is his first wife, Beatrice Kavuma Kiwanuka, and her children including eldest son Jordan Ssebuliba. On the other is his second wife since 1986, former Finance Minister Maria Nabasirye Kiwanuka.
Trouble started in May 2019 when Jordan petitioned court seeking to have his father declared of unsound mind and to be appointed manager of his estate. He cited a 2017 diagnosis by UK psychiatrist Dr. Farook Maniyar indicating early Alzheimer’s and dementia.
High Court Judge Musa Ssekaana initially dismissed the application in 2019 after a brief private meeting with Mohan at Golden Tulip Hotel, ruling that Mohan was mentally fit.
But the fight was revived by Mohan’s own sisters – Jalia Muwanga, Yudaya Nantege Nsereko, Berti Nsereko Kawooya and Sarah Nsereko, a retired NHS dementia caregiver in the UK – who in 2023 filed their own case alleging their brother was battling severe cognitive decline and was not receiving adequate care.
In a landmark ruling in June 2025, the Court of Appeal overturned Ssekaana’s decision. Justices Cheborion Barishaki, Christopher Gashirabake and Dr. Asa Mugenyi declared that Mohan has been suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia since at least May 18, 2017, and is mentally incapacitated to manage his affairs.
The justices called the High Court’s hotel meeting “a defect that taints the inquiry with mystery and suspicion” and cited “damning evidence” of memory loss and personality changes.
The court ordered a full audit of all transactions since 2017, granted all wives and children unrestricted access to Mohan, and directed the family to convene within 30 days to appoint a new estate manager. In February 2025, Mohan’s own long-time lawyer, Francis Buwule, admitted in court that his client is mentally unfit.
During this period, Maria had positioned herself as the central figure in the empire. In 2019, she secured directorships in all six of Mohan’s holding companies, a move Jordan and his mother Beatrice allege was an attempt to sideline the first family. Beatrice has publicly accused Maria of blocking her and her children from accessing Mohan since April 2019.
Following the Court of Appeal ruling, Jordan moved to assert control over key assets including the radio stations, further unsettling staff and deepening the clan divide.
Now, with the Law Council complaint widely expected to collapse, observers say Maria is running out of legal options to retain control of an estate the courts have already ruled she must account for and step aside from pending a family-led restructuring.
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