KAMPALA – August 6, 2026, marks exactly one year since the death of business mogul and philanthropist Dr. James Musinguzi Garuga at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala.
Yet, for some of his children, the circumstances surrounding his death remain unresolved accusing their mother Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza and son Phillip Musinguzi for causing his death by intentionally denying him an emergency medical evacuation to the UK
The businessman also had a valid UK medical visa in his passport with his doctors waiting to treat him and medical air service on standby to evacuate him.
Dr. Garuga was admitted to Nakasero Hospital in February 2025 after suffering a dislocated hip and was later diagnosed with diabetes.
Litany
According to his first-born son and customary heir, Alwyn Carl Musinguzi Garuga, a series of avoidable decisions denied his father an opportunity to receive specialized treatment abroad at a time when his health was rapidly deteriorating.
Alwyn says doctors recommended that his father be urgently transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States for advanced treatment. However, he says the plan was blocked by Dr. Garuga’s wife the next of kin, Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza, who had the final authority over medical decisions.
Attention later shifted to the United Kingdom, where arrangements were being made for treatment at Cromwell Hospital. Alwyn notes that an earlier visa application was intentionally mishandled after Garuga’s occupation was reportedly indicated as a farmer, resulting in its rejection.
He says that after his intervention, a fresh application was processed and approved within days but by then valuable time had already been lost.
According to Alwyn, even after the visa was secured and an air ambulance placed on standby to transfer his father from Nakasero Hospital to London, the evacuation never took place.
Instead, he adds that Garuga’s passport was submitted for a separate visa application to Turkey by Kesiime and Philip who took over the visa booking application process, a move he believes further delayed the urgently needed treatment.
“Tying up his passport with a valid UK medical visa in it at the Turkish visa handling office never delayed anything. It was a well calculated scheme to deny Garuga emergency medical evacuation designed to deny him treatment and kill him”‘ Says Carl Musinguzi.
As Garuga’s condition worsened, attention turned to treatment within Uganda. Alwyn questions the decision to carry out a hip replacement surgery shortly after his father had been diagnosed with diabetes, arguing that the procedure was conducted before his blood sugar levels had stabilized, thereby exposing him to avoidable complications.
He further narrates that there were lapses in medical care during Garuga’s hospitalization, including an incident in which food administered through a feeding tube at his home by Kesiime entered his lungs, worsening his already critical condition.
Following the surgery, Garuga’s health reportedly deteriorated further and he was later diagnosed with cancer. He was subsequently transferred from Nakasero Hospital to CORSU Hospital, a decision Alwyn also questions given the complexity of his father’s condition.
In his final days, an open-chest procedure was performed but was unsuccessful. Alwyn further notes that despite already having a valid United Kingdom visa, fresh efforts were instead being made to secure treatment in Turkey.
“When he started making medical progress while in hospital, Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza unilaterally ordered an open chest surgery on him that killed him that same day of 5th August, 2025.
The head of Administration at Nakasero hospital, a one Dr Luzige was against the open chest surgery but Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza ordered it as the next of kin”.
Perhaps the most painful account, according to Alwyn, concerns the final hours before his father’s death. He says he was denied access to see Dr. Garuga during official visiting hours on the day he died, leaving him with lingering questions about what transpired during those final moments.
He accuses Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza and his brother, Philip Musinguzi of making decisions that delayed or denied the deceased access to appropriate medical care.
“Peace Bagorogoza instead ordered doctors to carry out an open-chest surgery on him that killed him,” Alwyn alleges.
Daughter’s Audio Recording
This publication has also obtained an audio recording in which Dr. Garuga’s daughter, Rowena Musinguzi, appears to acknowledge that only their mother, Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza, had authority to approve any overseas medical evacuation.
“Even if I wanted to evacuate him, I don’t have that power. His next of kin is his wife. Negotiate with her in good faith and explain the pros and cons. That’s what we’re trying to do,” Rowena says in the recording.
She adds: “Do you think Dr. Mbonye can release Daddy to me and ignore Mum? I cannot supersede his wife’s wishes.”
Observers say that meant that Kesiime was not interested in seeing Dr .James Garuga access better treatment abroad.
It is also indicated that Philip Musinguzi also obtained £25000 for hotel booking where the late would be hosted but vanished with the said money.
Enter Estate Battle
The dispute did not end with Dr. Garuga’s burial at his ancestral home in Rugyeyo, Kanungu District.
Soon after the funeral, Peace Kesiime Bagorogoza petitioned the High Court Family Division for authority to manage and distribute the late businessman’s estate.
Alwyn Garuga opposed the application, filing both a caveat and a substantive suit challenging her suitability to administer the estate alone, arguing that the vast family wealth risked being mismanaged.
The High Court later declined to grant temporary control of the estate to Kesiime, instead placing its administration under the Administrator General.
In his ruling, Justice John Eudes Keitirima held that a person entrusted with temporary administration of an estate must be neutral, competent, and free from personal conflicts, citing the deep divisions within the family.
Battle for the Companies
The struggle has since extended to control of Dr. Garuga’s companies.
In what Alwyn describes as an effort to protect his father’s business empire from individuals seeking to exploit the leadership vacuum, he recently secured a significant victory alongside shareholder Hon. Mathew Rukiikaire.
The Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) removed lawyer Agaba Maguru’s appointments from three Garuga-linked companies after Assistant Registrar of Companies Daniel Nasasira ruled that the filings appointing him as director of Garuga Properties Limited, Kinkizi Development Company Limited, and Incafex Limited had been wrongfully obtained and were null and void ab initio.
According to the ruling, the disputed company filings were expunged from the Companies Register, strengthening the position of Alwyn Garuga and Mathew Rukiikaire in the ongoing struggle over management of the late businessman’s companies.
Search for Justice Continues
One year after Dr. Garuga’s death, the legal battles surrounding both his estate and the circumstances of his final days remain unresolved.
Alwyn Garuga says his efforts to obtain his father’s complete medical records, surgery notes, referral documents, and cause-of-death records from Nakasero Hospital have yet to succeed, with the matter still before the courts.
As the anniversary approaches, the family has organized a memorial church service at All Saints Church, Nakasero, on August 6 to pray for the late businessman’s soul.
Even as prayers are offered in his memory, some of Dr. Garuga’s children say they remain determined to pursue what they describe as justice for their father insisting that unanswered questions surrounding his death must eventually be addressed and any one found in wrong doing punished.
