The Jinja Road based Club, Rouge has been closed again for the second time this year and renovation is not any of the reasons this time.
The fight for the ownership of the Club is the reason behind the closure of the once biggest night spot in the country.
According to a staff member who has worked under the three different owners of the Club, Rouge was closed as a result of failure to pay rent of the building which houses the it.
This comes amid denials from the Club’s management which last week maintained that they had only closed down because it was a fasting period and there was limited business. But when they failed to open up shop even on Idd day celebrations, the source admitted the club is closed.
The source attributes the Club’s troubles to former owner, suspected internet fraudster, Ronald Muramuzi.
“Muramuzi bought the club from then owner, Spear Abohe at a price of Shs300million in March this year.He went on to renovate it to make it meet the standards of the rest of the top clubs in Kampala. However, Muramuzi was arrested before the club was re-opened,” says the source.
While in jail, he asked to settle some of his creditors out of court and rally ace and city engineer, a one Keneth Ntalo was one of them. Since he owed a lot of money to Ntalo, Muramuzi decided to settle the former with the Club and all the necessary transfers were done while he was still in jail.
However, on coming out of jail, he wants his club back, saying he was forced to sign the transfer papers. He says he is ready to pay back Ntalo’s debts in a period of three months and it is this reason that Ntalo has refused to pay rent.
On his part, Ntalo reportedly says he can’t pay rent for the club that he is to hand over to the owner anytime. He also threatens to drag Muramuzi to court if he fails to pay by the end of the month period.
The Club was closed by city tycoon, Sudhir Repularia, who owns the building. The owners of Rouge reportedly owe him rental arrears amounting to Shs26 million.
How Muramuzi Lost Club Rouge
Muramuzi early this year bought several properties among which included, Club Rouge, Dynasty Newspaper and several buildings with the city.
However, his luck ran out when Telexfree, which he worked for closed down. But as investigations went on, it was discovered that everything was going in his favour until when he was arrested on suspicion of fraud. But during investigations, it was discovered that the scam was actually bigger than Telexfree.
It is alleged that Muramuzi through his companies like; TESCO FREE, Addfast Inc, Telex free, Bank Electro, United Hype League and Massive Ads .Com, he had opened under different names, fleeced money from over 600 people amounting to over Shs4 Billion.
He is currently facing two counts of obtaining Shs500 million from one John Bosco Muhiirwe, the director of Mixed Links, purporting to take youth for jobs abroad.
Muramuza is out of jail on a court bond .
