UGANDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Moses J. Adriko SC, Ernest Sembatya Kaggwa, Derrick Kizito Kunyiga and Philip E. Nsaja, MMAKS Advocates
13.5 Binding of Third Parties Third parties are bound only through recognised legal relationships with a party, principally: • persons “claiming through or under” a party within Section 2 of the ACA – assignees of the contract, successors-in-title and subrogated insurers; • personal representatives of a deceased party, since an arbitration agreement is not discharged by death; • a trustee in bankruptcy that adopts a contract con - taining an arbitration clause (Section 37); and • principals bound by agreements concluded on their behalf by agents. The High Court Commercial Division has also stated that a non-signatory may be bound by an arbitration agreement under the following doctrines: • under the “group of companies” doctrine; • piercing of the corporate veil; and • implied consent through active participation in the proceedings (see Kom Consults Limited v M / s Nambale Enterprises Ltd & Anor , Miscellaneous Application No 1144 of 2025). An award creates rights and obligations only between the parties to the reference and those claiming through or under them; it cannot be enforced against stran - gers.
Arbitrators Arbitrators are bound by the ACA’s requirements of independence, impartiality and continuing disclosure (Section 12), as strictly enforced in recent case law (see 4.5 Arbitrator Requirements ). Members of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) – a large proportion of the local arbitration community – are subject to the CIArb Code of Professional and Ethical Conduct, and ICAMEK panel arbitrators are subject to the Centre’s standards and required declarations. The IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration are widely used as persuasive soft law. 13.3 Third-Party Funding There is no legislation or regulation in Uganda that addresses, restricts or prohibits third-party funding of arbitration, and no disclosure obligation is imposed by the ACA or local institutional rules. The market is nascent, and funding is beginning to appear in larger commercial and treaty disputes involving Ugandan parties. The common-law doctrines of maintenance and champerty have not been applied by the Ugan - dan courts to invalidate the funding of arbitration, although they have not been formally abolished, so funding arrangements should be structured with them in mind. The restrictions on contingency arrange - ments in the Advocates (Remuneration and Taxa - tion of Costs) Rules bind advocates, not professional funders. Funded parties are well advised to disclose the existence of funding voluntarily to protect against arbitrator conflicts. 13.4 Consolidation The ACA is silent on consolidation, so neither an arbi - tral tribunal nor a court can compel the consolidation of separate arbitral proceedings without the consent of all parties across the references. Consolidation is therefore available only where the parties’ arbitration agreements or chosen institutional rules provide for it, or where all parties agree ad hoc; tribunals may other - wise co-ordinate related references through concur - rent hearings with consent. The courts do, in contrast, routinely consolidate related arbitration applications pending before them, as in Kampala International Uni- versity v Housing Finance Company Ltd , where two arbitration causes were consolidated, but that is a case management measure in the court proceedings, not a consolidation of the arbitrations themselves.
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