Rivonia Suites
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I Ugandan lawyer and businessman Deux Tibingana has filed for divorce from his estranged wife, saying the decision became unavoidable after years of failed reconciliation efforts and what he describes as being excluded from Rivonia Suites, the hotel business he says he built with more than Shs800 million of his own investment.
Tibingana announced the move in a lengthy statement released on his 49th birthday, saying he chose to disclose the court action himself before details of the divorce petition inevitably entered the public domain.
“I am sharing this openly today because a third-party leak of a dissolution of marriage that has been filed in court is inevitable. I won’t allow that. Not this time round,” he said.
Describing the occasion as “my third anniversary of pure survival and the permanent closure of a 28-year chapter,” Tibingana declared that he was “starting a new life.”
At the heart of the divorce is Rivonia Suites, a hotel that Tibingana says represents years of sacrifice, financial risk and personal commitment.
According to his account, he single-handedly financed the establishment of the hotel, investing more than Shs800 million of his own money while also taking on substantial loans to complete construction. He added that during the business’s difficult early years, income from his law firm was used to keep the hotel operational while it made losses.
“I single-handedly built the primary business enterprise, Rivonia Suites, sank over 800M of my own money into it, and took on heavy lines of credit to complete it,” he said.
Trust severed
Tibingana explained that he entrusted his wife with the day-to-day management of the hotel in 2013 before giving her full operational control in 2018 as he focused on other responsibilities.
He said the arrangement changed dramatically after he transferred the business registration into her name in April 2019, describing the move as one intended purely to simplify administration.
Instead, he alleges that the transfer was used to remove him from the business’s financial operations.
“She secretly used the transfer to open completely new bank accounts where my signature was no longer required, systematically cutting me out of the revenue stream,” he claimed.
Tibingana further alleged that he has not received any financial accountability from the hotel since 2018 and has been denied access to both the business and its income.
“Since 2018, I have never seen a single line of accountability. I have absolutely no idea where those massive funds have been going,” he said.
Access barred
He also claimed he is no longer allowed to freely access the hotel despite having financed its construction.
“The business serves lunch every day. If I wanted, I had to buy. To this day I am like any other customer,” he said.
Beyond the hotel, Tibingana alleged that he also financed his wife’s Axis Salon business in Kitintale, only to later hear through rumours that it had been sold in 2024 without his knowledge.
According to Tibingana, the breakdown of the marriage became irreversible in late 2023 after the family left a temporary rented home while he completed construction of a new family house.
He claimed his wife moved out with their belongings and never returned.
“She took everything we owned. The four days passed, then she said she needed time. It soon dawned on me that this person was in no hurry to come,” he said.
Rather than immediately turning to court, Tibingana said he first pursued counselling and mediation through relatives and professional counsellors in an effort to salvage the marriage.
Counselling hit stone wall
Those efforts, he said, failed. He claimed one counsellor eventually informed him that his wife had emotionally left the relationship years earlier and was only interested in Rivonia Suites.
Tibingana acknowledged that he had made mistakes during periods of financial hardship but argued that those shortcomings should not be confused with what he describes as deliberate financial exclusion.
“I am no saint. I have made mistakes, broken trust and let people down. But there is a vast difference between an entrepreneur collapsing under economic stress and a systematic, hidden lockout by a person whom I trusted with all operations,” he said.
He also alleged that he had been excluded from important family milestones, including his eldest son’s graduation from Makerere University and another son’s departure for studies abroad.
In a final attempt to resolve the dispute outside court, Tibingana said he proposed sharing the profits generated by Rivonia Suites equally, claiming the hotel now earns more than 20,000 US dollars every month.
“The business I built makes more than twenty thousand dollars a month; why shouldn’t I push for us to share?” he asked.
He said relatives rejected the proposal during family discussions, convincing him that the dispute could only be resolved through legal proceedings.
“I resolved after that meeting that I was dealing with some aliens. I communicated that I would file for divorce and settle the issues through court,” he said.
Humble background
Reflecting on his life, Tibingana recounted his humble beginnings, saying he sold pineapples and roses while studying law at Makerere University before later working as a butcher, forklift operator and delivery truck driver in the United Kingdom to raise capital for his businesses.
He credited friends, relatives and creditors with helping him recover from financial setbacks, thanking them for what he described as unwavering support during his most difficult moments.
The divorce petition has not yet been made public, and Tibingana’s allegations have not been independently verified. His estranged wife had not publicly responded to the claims by the time of publication.
The matter is expected to be handled by the Family Division of the High Court, where issues relating to the dissolution of the marriage and any dispute over matrimonial property, including Rivonia Suites, are likely to be determined.
