Mugoya Estate is a middle-class gated community that sits right at the heart of Nairobi’s South C.
Hosting several maisonettes, each on its compound, little is known of the Ugandan billionaire after whom the estate is named after – James Mugoya Isabirye. The multi-billionaire is an engineer who also doubles as a businessman.
Born in Eastern Uganda in 1950, little is known of his parents but he went through primary school, after which he joined Kings College Budo for his secondary education.
As the name suggests, Kings College is a school for the affluent in Uganda. There were only two keys that could unlock the doors to the prestigious school – money and brains.
Mugoya later joined the University of Nairobi, where he pursued a degree in Engineering. As a young man in a foreign land, and during a time when Kenya and Uganda were not at the best of terms, he could not imagine that that would be the hallmark of his purple patch.
While a student at UoN, Mugoya made friends and one of them happened to be the son of the then Vice President and future President Daniel Arap Moi. He maintained the friendship and with it came a bag of goodies.
After his graduation, the Ugandan Tycoon started Mugoya Construction and Engineering Company Limited. Through his cordial relations with the first family, he managed to secure contracts that many engineers would only dream about.
Mugoya Construction is behind some of the most iconic buildings in Nairobi including Times Tower, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) building and Hazina Estate. Outside the capital, he built Moi High School, Kabarak, Kabarak University and the Kisumu Provincial Headquarters.
In 1995, NSSF awarded Mugoya a contract to construct 265 houses in Karen, together with an administration block , a club house and a kindergarten. However, the project did not kick-off due to pending approvals from Nairobi City Council
The Ugandan Tycoon would, in 2012, receive Ksh342 million in an out-of-court settlement for the very project. He initially claimed Ksh633 million.
In 2001, he hit the government with a Ksh1.9 billion claim in respect to a contract awarded to him in 1990 to construct a building meant to serve as an annex to Treasury building.
In 2018, Mugoya, together with a member of the UAE Royal Family claimed prime plots valued at Ksh20 billion in which the Hilton Upper Hill Tower is being built. They claim that the developer who owns the parcel of land allegedly encroached on and taken over at least two other adjacent plots.
His company was however liquidated in 2015 owing to accrued debt including Ksh324 million compensation paid to NSSF
The Ugandan billionaire has had run-ins with the law both in Kenya and Uganda. He was charged with selling off construction machinery worth Ksh3.5 billion that had been charged to a Kenyan bank.
His case was, however, terminated on August 21, 2021
In Uganda, a court determined that he had questions to answer for allegedly operating an illegal joint real estate venture valued at Ksh149 million (Ush8 billion).
However, he remains celebrated in his country. In 1994, he rebuilt Bugabawe Primary School after a pupil lost his life when a roof collapsed during heavy rainfall. He demolished the dilapidated buildings in the school and built them afresh.
