Who is James Nyakuni? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Apollo Ezama Olema, the early life and education of the founder, owner, and managing director of Gaagaa Bus Services Limited.
James Nyakuni is a Ugandan businessman and entrepreneur.
Nyakuni is the founder, owner, and managing director of Gaagaa Bus Services Limited, which exclusively relocated from its Arua terminal.
Early Life and Education
James Nyakuni was born in the Ugandan Arua District in the 1970s.
He dropped out of school in Primary Seven and began producing clay-building bricks. He then hired a market stand and sold fabricated metal products.
Nyakuni later founded a bicycle parts store in Arua. When he began dealing in cigarettes and automobile fuel, his company required him to travel to Nairobi, Kenya several times a year.
He developed new business skills and made new business contacts on such visits. He then opened a second store over the border in the northeast region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Finally, Nyakuni ventured into the transportation industry.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Despite his humble beginnings, James Nyakuni is most known for the fleet of white GaaGaa buses that operate the Kampala-West Nile route.
Gaagaa Bus had offices in Kampala which were closed in 2022, the capital of Burundi, Bujumbura, Kigali, Rwanda, and Arua. The business’s buses ran on routes such as Kampala-Rwanda-Burundi, Kampala-Arua, Kampala-Koboko, Kampala-Paidah, Kampala-Lira, Kampala-Gulu, and Nebbi-Kampala via Pakwach.
Gaagaa Enterprises Limited had a bus fleet of over 15 vehicles. Between 2005 and 2020, the buses were among the most sought-after. The remaining buses in Kampala have been grounded since the company’s demise.
Similarly, James Nyakuni is active in economic ventures such as the Coca-Cola distribution franchise for the West Nile sub-region.
Nyakuni is also a real estate tycoon, owning apartment complexes and other rental properties in Arua and Kampala.
Achievements and Awards
With fleets of Gaagaa buses, James Nyakuni revolutionised the transport industry in Arua. He was the first to establish buses that ran at night in the region and surrounding areas.
In 2007, James Nyakuni was believed to be one of Uganda’s wealthiest individuals, with a fortune derived from transportation and real estate business.
Controversies
Six tenants in Arua town were outraged in May 2019 after the High Court ordered their eviction from a block on Plot 15, Transport Road.
On May 14, 2013, the High Court in Arua ordered Apollo Ezama Olema, the head of Vimba Associates bailiffs, to remove all occupants and lease the premises to James Nyakuni.
The disagreement began when a former tenant, Agnes Tabu, sued the building’s landlord, Bosco Enaku, for unlawful eviction.
Tabu alleged in her petition in the same court that, in addition to wrongfully evicting her, her landlord took her property worth millions of shillings. Tabu won the case, and the court sold the building to reimburse her losses.
To cover court fees and Tabu’s losses, the property was evaluated for sale and leased to Nyakuni for ten years at Shs 2.5m per month. However, before enforcing the court order, the current occupants were given three days to evacuate.
In September 2011, James Nyakuni petitioned the High Court in Kampala to intervene following a Bank of Uganda request to freeze his three accounts in response to a damning UN Congo report.
He requested that his accounts at DFCU Bank, Stanbic Bank, and Ecobank be unfrozen, claiming that his business was being hampered.
According to a 2004 UN investigation, Nyakuni allegedly had an arms trade association with Gen. Jerome Kakwavu, the former commander in chief of the Congolese rebel group Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo.
Nyakuni requested that the court impose an order barring the government from executing UN Security Council Resolution 1596 (2005), claiming that it is illegitimate and discriminatory.
In his affidavit, he claimed that he was never given the opportunity to be heard before being targeted.
Gaagaa bus services purportedly ceased operations in June 2022 due to financial difficulties, laying off more than 50 people.
Because of the great quality of its services, it has become one of the best bus service providers in the West Nile region.
However, due to numerous complaints of buses breaking down on journeys and being involved in dangerous accidents, several customers began to avoid Gaagaa.
When approached regarding the cessation of GaaGaa Bus services, James Nyakuni told PesaCheck over the phone that they just transferred from their known terminal in Arua to a general bus terminal, Namayiba Bus Terminal, which accommodates several bus companies in order to save operational costs.
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