Big Story: Courts grants leave to Stanbic Bank to convene AGM on Zoom due to Coronavirus

High Court Judge Ssekaana Musa on Wednesday granted leave to Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited to convene the Annual General Meeting by electronic means due to guidelines of covid-19 pandemic. Whisper Eye Reports.

Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited provides personal, business, corporate, and investment banking services in Uganda.

The company offers salary, currency, savings, fixed deposit, and call accounts; fixed term, revolving term, working capital, and term loans; overdrafts; and debit and credit cards.

In 2020 , Oscar Kambona petitioned high court seeking court to allow Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited to convene the Annual General Meeting for the year ended 31st December 2019 by electronic means.

In a miscellaneous cause no. 108 of 2020 Oscar was represented by Paul Mbuga a Partner, Sebalu & Lule Advocates in Kampala.

Under the grounds for application, Senior Counsel Mbuga Paul informed court that the applicant was a member of Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited with effect from 21st January 2007 and was registered as a Member Number 112054 (holding 21,500,000 ordinary shares) on the Company Register of Members.

Mr Mbuga said that It is a requirement for the company to convene an Annual General Meeting in respect of every concluded financial year in accordance with the Company’s laws.

According to grounds of the application, Stanbic Uganda Holding limited Articles of Association require that any Annual General Meeting of the Company must be physically convened with a quorum of at least 7 members entitled to attend the meeting present physically in person .

Lawyer Mbuga informed court that it was impractical to convene a meeting of the company in a usual manner and in accordance with the manner prescribed in the Articles of Association.

This was because of the various restrictive measures implemented by Uganda government to combat the spread of the coronavirus , he added.

In his ruling , Justice Ssekaana Musa agreed that the applicant’s problem or dilemma was that he cannot hold a meeting or direct the affairs of the company since the government banned all public meetings in order to combat the spread of Coronavirus.

The Judge agreed with the applicants lawyer that , under the current circumstances and legal regime, the company cannot convene a physical meeting due to its large membership of about 22,500 since the Public Health (Control of COVID-19) Rules 2020 banned public gatherings and meeting in Uganda.

The Judge went on to grant Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited leave to convene the Annual General Meeting for the year ended 31st December 2019 by electronic means, subject to obtaining a prior no-objection from Uganda Securities Exchange and complying with all applicable notices issued under the Uganda Securities Exchange Listing Rules 2003.

He also ordered that the cost of the application be met by Stanbic .