Who is Mukesh Shukla Babubhai? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, achievements, and relationship with Shumuk, National Resistance Movement’s Entrepreneurs League, Hassan Basajjabalaba, Nakawa West Constituency, MP Joel Ssenyonyi, and the early life and education of the founder and chairman of the Shumuk Group of Companies.
Mukesh Shukla, often known as Shumuk or Mukesh Shukla Babubhai, is a Ugandan businessman, entrepreneur, and politician.
Mukesh is the founder and chairman of the Shumuk Group of Companies, which has interests in manufacturing, real estate, and hospitality.
Early Life and Education
Mukesh Shukla Babubhai was born in the Ugandan Northern Region in 1962 in Arua, Arua District, West Nile Sub-region. He is, nonetheless, of Indian descent.
From 1959 through 1986, his father worked as a revenue official for the Uganda Revenue Authority.
Since 1939, the family has been manufacturing aluminium saucepans.
Mukesh is a married man with children.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Mukesh Shukla began marketing soft commodities from a retail/wholesale location in Kampala in 1984 after he completed his education. Shukla used his income to start producing aluminium utensils and to operate a Forex office.
Today, the Shumuk Group, which he leads, is one of East Africa’s largest industrial conglomerates, with operations in steel, dairy, and hotels. The company’s annual sales exceed $80 million.
Mukesh Shukla ran against the current chairman of the ruling National Resistance Movement’s Entrepreneurs League, Hassan Basajjabalaba, in the 2016 political campaign.
Shukla also ran for the Nakawa West Constituency seat in the 2021 elections but was beaten by incumbent MP Joel Ssenyonyi.
Mukesh Shukla’s Businesses
Mukesh Shukla’s enterprises are organised under the Shumuk Group. Individual companies include the following:
- A company that makes aluminium cooking equipment.
- Multiple warehouses in Kampala and other Ugandan cities
- A milk manufacturing factory
- Commercial structures in Kampala and other Ugandan cities
- A corporation that imports and sells used cars.
- A money-lending company A foreign exchange bureau
- Several hotels in Kampala and other Ugandan cities
Achievements and Awards
In 2012, Mukesh Shukla was believed to be one of Uganda’s wealthiest individuals. He is currently projected to be worth $200 million.
Controversies
Mukesh disputed Ssenyonyi’s victory at Kampala High Court after losing the Nakawa West Parliamentary elections on January 14, 2021.
Ssenyonyi, running on the National Unity Platform-NUP ticket, received 30,847 votes. Mukesh finished sixth with 806 votes.
However, Mukesh was displeased with the results and petitioned the court, claiming Ssenyonyi of perpetrating multiple electoral offences, including ballot stuffing and failing to sign the declaration of results forms, with the Electoral Commission’s cooperation.
He accused Ssenyonyi of stuffing ballots at eight polling locations, where he received 81 votes instead of 58. However, in October 2021, High Court Judge Isaac Muwata denied the petition, ordering Mukesh to pay Ssenyonyi’s fees for a lack of adequate proof to substantiate his charges, forcing him to file an appeal.
Mukesh Shukla was convicted on six counts of uttering a fake document by the Buganda Road Magistrates Court in October 20222.
Mukesh was found guilty by a court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Marion Mangeni of uttering a false document in the form of a letter for the official handover of Hotel Diplomat Muyenga, purporting to be signed by the late Bonny Katatumba, the former Consular of Uganda to Pakistan, and his other family members.
The documents, which also included the signature of George William Kalyegira, the officer in charge of former Chief Justice Bart Katureebe’s security detail, were allegedly uttered on April 17th, 2015 and November 17th, 2017, indicating that the Katatumba family had authorised him to take over Hotel Diplomat.
The prosecution showed beyond a reasonable doubt with evidence from seven witnesses that Mukesh committed the charges against him that he had previously denied.
The same court acquitted him of seven counts of forgery of those documents, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to prove he was the one who forged them.
After being found guilty, the prosecution, led by Ivan Kyazze, sought the court to sentence Mukesh to prison, claiming that crimes of this sort are common in the country, particularly in Buganda Road Court’s jurisdiction.
Mukesh, on his side, requested a lenient penalty, stating that he is an elderly man with a family to support and that a caution would be an acceptable sentence for him rather than going to jail.
In her judgement, Magistrate Mangeni ordered Mukesh to pay a two million shilling fine on each of the six offences, and on failing to do so, he was to be sentenced to two years in Luzira prison.
The Katatumba children, led by Angella Katatumba, welcomed the decision, saying they were relieved that he had been convicted and that the next step was to reclaim Katatamba Suites (now known as SHUMUK House), where Mukesh is owed more than 14 million dollars in rent arrears.
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