Ijumba v. Mbile (PC) Civ. App. 225-M-70; 4/6/71; El-Kindy Ag. J.

Ijumba v. Mbile (PC) Civ. App. 225-M-70; 4/6/71; El-Kindy Ag. J.

            Ijumba is appealing against the judgment and order of the district court of Bukoba in which her claim was dismissed on the grounds that the claim was time-barred. She was claiming a total of 13 heads of cattle from the respondent. She alleged that 20 years ago the respondent and her late husband took a head of cattle from their common father called Ijumba, and these had subsequently reproduced to reach the figure of 12. As soon as the trial magistrate heard that it was 20 years ago, he struck out the appellant’s claim under Rule 3 of the Customary Law (Limitation of Proceedings) Rules 1963, G. N. 311/1963. And the District Court went along with the primary court decision and confirmed the rejection order, but the appellate court held that the claim was brought 2 years too late, and quoted Rule 5 of the same Ruled.

                        Held: (1) “With due respect, both lower courts did not advert their minds as to when the right of action first occurred. It could not have been 20 years as the right of action first occurred when the first claim the appellant made against the cattle. For this reasons, I find the order of rejection of this suit cannot be upheld. It is accordingly set aside, and the case remitted back to the primary court for admission and hearing according to law.”