Last week, seasoned lawyer Fred Muwema warned banks that their fascination with publishing images and other data about clients who fail to meet their loan obligations was not only wrong but also illegal. And now one ‘victim’ has threatened to sue if a local bank does not pay up for publishing her photo. In Uganda, banks publish data of clients regularly and most loan defaulters live with the humiliation without seeking legal redress.
A client who acquired a bank loan but failed to repay as per the loan contract has taken issues with her bank’s decision to publish her data, includimg her photo, in the press.
In what could be a major precedent suit against the flagrant abandon with which banks publish client data, Berna Mutamba has instructed her lawyers to commence legal proceedings against Barclays Bank to protect her rights over name and image
According to her lawyer, Francis Harimwomugasho, of Newmark Advocates, in 2015 Mutamba obtained a loan from Barclays Bank, Mukono branch, but for some reasons could not honour he loan repayment obligation to the letter.
Mutamba, who is “a renowned advocate