Team size: Seven

Major legal advisors: SM & Company Advocates, S& L Advocates, Kampala Associated Advocates

Q&A

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

We are currently involved in Umeme Limited vs the Government of Uganda, an international investor-state arbitration filed in London and conducted under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules arising out of a buyout amount claim of US$290mn following the end of Umeme Limited’s 20-year concession to operate the electricity distribution network in Uganda.

We are also involved in Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited vs Umeme, an international investor-state arbitration filed in London and conducted under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules arising out of a claim for recovery of US$160mn under a Power Sale Agreement.

Between 2022 and 2025 we participated in the retransfer of an electricity distribution concession from Umeme Limited, a private company to the government owned Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited. This involved conducting state of the network assessments, engaging with the Government of Uganda, supporting the retransfer of assets, recruitment of staff, and reconciliation of assets, novation of contracts, regulatory income and ensuring that there were no service interruptions during and after the retransfer.

How is your legal function leveraging technology to enhance efficiency in areas such as contract management and compliance monitoring? 

Our legal department relies on technology to not only enhance efficiency in our operations, but also to ensure confidentiality and compliance with the law. We leveraged already available systems, while planning to procure custom systems in the future. The company uses an enterprise resource program developed by SAP/Hana and the legal section has access for procurement approval and workflow review, contract development and quality assurance. The company uses contract approval and signing software. This ensures confidentiality of documents, version control and has a contract repository. The team also uses the Microsoft 360 office suite, including: Teams, sharepoint, and onedrive to improve teamwork and legal operations. We use systems developed by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, Uganda’s company registry to file company documents and the Electronic Court Case Management System developed by the Judiciary for filing and managing litigation.

How is the role of the General Counsel evolving in East Africa as organisations place greater emphasis on governance, transparency and ESG considerations? 

Companies are investing more time and resources on ESG and GRC. This is in response to a greater need to protect their reputations and comply with standards like IFRS S1 and S2 that require reporting on ESG and environmental impact. The GC is called upon to interpret the requirements, advise the Board of Directors, engage with regulators, prepare reports, and ensure that the company is not exposed to legal, reputational, and regulatory risk . This is a welcome change from the traditional reactive role GCs had before, where they merely waited for legal instructions and were restricted to litigation. The GC finally participates in strategy and has evolved through cross training in finance, human resources and operations, understanding the other functions’ roles and simplifying the legal and regulatory framework.