WIDOW VS CHILDREN! Judge Pushes Karangwa Family Into Mediation Over Estate War

High Court Judge Lawrence Gidudu has advised the family of the late Moses Karangwa, the former Kayunga District National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairperson, to seek mediation to resolve disagreements over the management of his estate.

While appointing Karangwa’s daughter, Jackline Birungi Kobusingye, and his widow, Florence Kirabo, as interim administrators of his expansive estate, Gidudu said the warring family members should consider appointing a neutral person to help resolve their differences. “The parties are, in the meantime, strongly urged to seek mediation. If necessary, they should ask the court to provide a mediator in case they cannot agree on a neutral person,” Gidudu said in his ruling.

The advice was contained in a ruling on an application seeking interim powers to administer Karangwa’s estate. The dispute pits his children against their stepmother and two of her sons over who should be granted letters of probate to administer the estate. Two of Karangwa’s children, Birungi and Moses Karangwa, together with their sister, Kemigisha Hanisa, sued their stepmother, Kirabo, and two of her sons, Emmanuel Kamugisha and Michael Ezra Karuhanga, seeking to stop them from obtaining letters of probate to administer the estate.

The three children argued that the application for letters of probate was based on a forged will. They described the document presented in court by the widow and her two sons as illegal, void and unenforceable, citing suspicious circumstances surrounding its preparation and what they described as unusual wording in the text. They further claimed that the will allocated most of Karangwa’s properties to the widow and her children at the expense of his other children, many of whom were still of school-going age.

The applicants also accused the widow of appropriating the deceased’s estate by selling properties and animals on some of his farms in Mukono, Jinja, Kamuli, Amuru and Kampala, among other places. In his ruling, Gidudu observed that the widow appeared unwilling to allow Karangwa’s other children to benefit from the estate through support for their upkeep and school fees. “During the hearing of the application, the court saw children of the deceased sitting on the side of the applicants. Some are really young, primary school-going children. The respondents did not attend court.

“I noticed that there are two camps in the family: one comprising children not born of the first respondent, and the other comprising the first respondent and her children. Court has to balance these interests for now, hoping that with the passage of time, their differences will diminish as their interests converge,” the judge ruled. Gidudu consequently allowed the widow and Karangwa’s daughter to jointly manage the estate for at least three months to ensure that the children’s interests and needs continue to be catered for.

He warned that if it becomes evident within the three-month period that the two parties cannot work together, he may appoint a neutral person or the Office of the Administrator General to manage the estate. Karangwa, who was widely known for his involvement in land disputes, died in a motor accident on May 18, 2026.

Since his death, disagreements have emerged among his widow and children over the companies, land, farms, houses, and other properties he left behind. The court has scheduled February 1, 2027, for the commencement of the hearing of the main suit to determine who should be granted letters of probate to administer the estate.