The High Court’s Commercial Division has given Emin Pasha hotel and its affiliates breathing room in their mortgage fight with Equity Bank, extending the hold on the sale of the mortgaged properties until October 10, 2025.
The order, issued on August 9, 2025 by Justice Patricia Mutesi, extends an interim injunction first granted by the Registrar in July, but otherwise upholds the “pay-now, argue later” rule that governs mortgage disputes.
The two-month extension is conditional on a $2.73m (UGX 9.7 Billion) which forms 30 percent of security deposit, without which the injunction lapses.
Justice Patricia Mutesi declined to lift the deposit condition but enlarged the time to pay it, citing fresh government assurances of arrears due to one of the borrowers, Prism Construction.
The reprieve lands amid fresh auction pressure in which Court bailiffs Jald (U) Limited re-advertised the properties linked to The Emin Pasha Ltd and guarantor Lokule Kennedy Erestus Losuk, saying they will proceed to sell by public auction or private treaty on 11 October 2025 unless the borrowers either deposit the 30 percent by 10 October or settle the loan in full.
In the new “RE-ADVERTISEMENT – NOTICE OF INTENDED SALE BY PUBLIC AUCTION/PRIVATE TREATY,” issued under the Registration of Titles Act (Cap. 240) and the Mortgage Act (Cap. 239), the auctioneers cite Justice Mutesi’s 9 August ruling in Misc. Appeal No. 49 of 2025, which keeps the injunction alive only on the condition that the 30 percent is paid on time.
The properties at issue include the Emin Pasha Hotel in Nakasero registered as LRV 134 Folio 25, Plot 27 Stanley Road on 3.4 acres, and a second Nakasero title, LRV 3632 Folio 17, Plot 29 Akii Bua Road on 0.339 acres.
Two additional titles are in Kisugu, registered to Mr. Losuk: Kyadondo Block 244, Plots 796 and 5572, measuring roughly 1.977 acres and 0.596 acres.
Auction images circulating with the notice show the hotel’s exteriors, pool deck and interior lounges, as well as multi-storey blocks and undeveloped sections on the Kisugu land.
The appeal was filed by The Emin Pasha Limited (owner of the boutique hotel), Prism Construction Co. Ltd, and guarantor Lokule Kennedy Erustus Losuk, against Equity Bank Uganda and the Attorney General.
Equity Bank says the borrowers defaulted on three facilities. By the July hearing of the interim injunction, the bank put the outstanding amounts at USD 8,774,665 on the consolidated facility and UGX 3,118,907,780 on Prism’s second facility. A foreclosure advert ran on 14 April 2025, prompting the suit and injunction applications.
Although the court rejected arguments for an unconditional injunction, Justice Mutesi acknowledged fresh correspondence showing Government arrears owed to Prism Construction under a Ministry of Education contract of at least UGX 5.83 billion.
Tribunal Backs URA in UGX 10.2 Billion Century Bottling Tax FightJustice Mutesi also noted a 23 July 2025 letter from the Ministry reaffirming the intention to pay.
The borrowers argued the Registrar misapplied Regulation 13 of the Mortgage Regulations and relied on older January 2020 valuations to compute the 30%.
Justice Mutesi disagreed: once foreclosure has commenced, any order that effectively stops or adjourns the process must be conditional on a 30% deposit whether the relief is styled as an interim or temporary injunction.
She also held that using earlier valuations to tabulate the 30% is permissible; the six-month valuation rule in Regulation 11 attaches to actual sale, not to adjournment orders under Regulation 13.
In a clarifying note, the judge added that courts may use the “amount outstanding” as claimed by the mortgagee at suit filing to compute the 30% even if the borrower disputes the figures otherwise Regulation 13 would be gutted by routine pleadings.
History
The Emin Pasha Hotel itself has a storied past. Conceived by safari entrepreneurs Jonathan Wright and Pamela Kertland Wright of Wildplaces Africa, it opened in the mid-2000s and was named after Mehmed Emin Pasha, a 19th-century physician-explorer, a theme that still influences the brand.
After a pandemic-era pause, the property reopened with upgraded rooms, event spaces and gardens.
In June 2023, it joined the CityBlue Collection under a management agreement and now trades as The Emin Pasha Hotel & Spa, CityBlue Collection.
The current proprietor is Sudanese businessman Lokule (Kennedy) Erestus Losuk, who also chairs Prism Construction.
