Court orders Bitature to pay Finicon Shs1.9bn in consultancy dispute

The High Court has ordered businessman Patrick Bitature to pay Finicon (U) Limited Shs1.9bn for consultancy services provided on two construction projects in Kampala.

The court found that Finicon had performed its obligations under contracts entered into with Bitature in 2012, but was not fully paid for the work.

The dispute arose from a contract signed on July 6, 2012, for professional consultancy services on the construction of a high-end boutique hotel along Summit View Road, atop Kololo Hill in Kampala. The project was estimated to carry an investment value of between US$5m (about Shs18bn) and US$6m (about Shs21.6bn).

On August 24, 2012, Bitature entered into a second contract with Finicon for the remodelling of his residential house on Plot 9, Malcolm X Road, Kololo.

According to Finicon, the first contract entitled it to a consultancy fee equivalent to five per cent of the locked project sum of US$6m if the project’s bills of quantities exceeded that amount. Where the bills of quantities were lower than the locked sum, the fee was to be calculated at five per cent of the actual project cost.

Finicon told court it carried out several activities under the contracts, including surveying, appraising and assessing the feasibility of the projects, designing schematic and production drawings, compiling project summaries and conducting the tendering process. The company also secured clearance from the National Environment Management Authority and began the process of obtaining development permission from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

It further undertook technical modifications required by KCCA, but said Bitature took no further steps to advance the project. Under the August 24 contract, the firm said it was entitled to a consultancy fee of five per cent of the total construction cost.

The company said it had completed about 76 per cent of the consultancy services under the two contracts and was therefore entitled to US$228,000 (about Shs820.8m) under the July contract and US$63,136.20 (about Shs227.3m) under the August contract — a total claim of US$291,136.20 (about Shs1.05bn).

Finicon said that by October 28, 2014, Bitature had paid only US$23,538 (about Shs84.7m), leaving an outstanding balance of US$267,598.20 (about Shs963.4m), exclusive of VAT. It said his failure to settle forced it to use its own resources to pay subcontractors engaged during the two contracts, affecting its cash flow and operations.

The firm sued for recovery of the outstanding sum, damages for breach of contract, punitive damages, interest and costs.

In his defence, Bitature argued that the consultancy fee under the July 2012 contract was to be calculated on the actual project cost if it turned out to be lower than the locked sum. On the August contract, he said the five per cent fee was to be agreed by the parties based either on the cost estimate reached after the concept was completed, or on the bills of quantities.

He said neither project reached the stage where bills of quantities were produced, so construction costs were never ascertained.

“That being the case, in so far as the agreed consideration is incapable of ascertainment, the terms of either contract are vague and unenforceable,” Bitature argued.

He further contended that the US$23,538 he had paid was agreed as full and final settlement because the projects had not proceeded to development stage. He also denied liability for the fees Finicon paid its subcontractors.

The court, however, found that Finicon had performed its obligations under the two contracts, and that Bitature had failed to prove the firm agreed to accept the amount already paid as full and final settlement.

“The absence of a clear and unambiguous agreement to that effect supports this conclusion. Therefore, this issue is answered in the negative; the part-payments made by the defendant were not in full and final settlement of the plaintiff’s claim,” the court observed.

It found Finicon entitled to an outstanding contractual sum of US$256,136.17 (about Shs922.1m), exclusive of VAT.

“Bitature not having furnished proof of any further payment, the court finds that the defendant has proved its entitlement to the outstanding contractual sum of US$256,136.17 exclusive of VAT, to the required standard,” the court ruled.

Judgment was entered for Finicon for US$256,136.17, exclusive of VAT, together with interest at nine per cent per annum from May 20, 2014, until payment in full. Bitature was also ordered to meet the costs of the suit.

The ruling adds to a mounting list of legal battles facing the Simba Group founder. Finicon Group Ltd filed the suit in the High Court’s Commercial Division on December 21, 2018. Separately, Bitature has been locked in a long-running dispute with South African private equity firm Vantage Mezzanine Fund II Partnership, which advanced US$10m to Simba Properties Investment Co Ltd in 2014. In August 2025, the Court of Appeal cleared Vantage to enforce that loan without registering locally, and the Supreme Court later issued an interim order staying execution pending determination of a substantive application. He has also faced recovery action from Absa Bank Uganda over a separate facility.