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forgery with no legal consequence and I so find. It therefore cannot be relied upon by this court
because it is an illegality which cannot be sanctioned by this court.
As regards the power of attorney, first of all by definition it is; “an instrument in writing
whereby one person, as principal, appoints another as his agent and confers authority to
perform certain specified acts or kinds of act on behalf of a principal…. An instrument
authorizing another to act as one‟s agent or attorney…. Such power may be general (full) or
special (limited).” Black’s Law Dictionary as quoted in Frederick J.K Zaabwe vs Orient Bank
Ltd & 5 Others Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 4 of 2006.
By its very nature, a power of attorney authorises a donee (attorney) who is the agent to act on
behalf of the donor who is the principal. Elaborating on this point Karureebe, JSC (now CJ) had
this to say in the leading judgment in Frederick J.K Zaabwe (supra):
“The point to note here is that the donee of a power of attorney acts as agent of
the donor. He cannot use the power of attorney for his own benefit. The Privy
Council decision, on an appeal arising from the Supreme Court of Canada, in
the case of IMPERIAL BANK OF CANADA –Vs- BEGLEY [1936] 2 All ER
367 is good authority for the principal that where an agent, who has been given
a power of attorney to do certain things, uses the power to do something for a
proper purpose, but the act done is for the agent‟s own purposes to the exclusion
and detriment of the principal, the actions of the agent will be outside the scope
of the power of attorney and are not even capable of ratification by the
principal.”
In the instant case, I have carefully considered the arguments for the parties and as stated
hereinabove, the construction of the power of attorney is key in assisting this court to understand
its effect. In Bryant, Powis and Bryant Limited v. LA Banque Du Peuple [1893] A.C. 170 at
177, (cited in Gold Trust (U) Ltd (Now DFCU Bank Ltd) vs Josephine Zalwango Nsimbe,
Administratrix of the estate of the late Sam Nsimbe (Now deceased) Civil Suit No. 226 of
1992) the Privy Council stated thus;
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