The Supreme Court has dismissed an application by National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine to amend his election petition challenging President Yoweri Museveni’s victory.
The Judgement was read on Tuesday by Lady Justice Stella A. Amoko alongside eight other justices led by the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dolo
Lawyers representing Bobi Wine, had earlier told Court that they were amending their presidential election petition to further strengthen their case against the victory of Museveni.
The lawyers led by Medard Lubega Sseggona on Tuesday, 09 February 2021 told the nine-member panel of Supreme that the amendment is seeking to add onto the illegalities that were committed by the Electoral Commission, Museveni and the Attorney General during the just concluded electoral process.
According to Sseggona, after Kyagulanyi’s house arrest, he came across a number of illegalities including voter bribery by Museveni that he wanted to bring to the attention of court for investigations.
He argued that his client was illegally placed under house arrest yet he was legally mandated to file his petition within fifteen days after the announcement of the January 14th presidential election results.
He told the Supreme Court that the ten days his client spent under house arrest consumed most of his time and asked the court to allow him to amend the petition seeking to overturn Museveni’s victory if justice is to prevail because this is the only opportunity the president can be sued.
Museveni’s lawyers led by Ebert Byenkya asked the court to dismiss Kyagulanyi’s application to amend the petition saying the law governing presidential election petitions does not allow for such. He said the law only allows for the filing of the petition, serving the petition within two days, filing answers to the petition within three days, asking for particulars if any and final hearing.
He emphasized that there is no allowance for amendment of the presidential petition as each step has a fixed schedule. Byenkya also said the role of the Justices is not to investigate the matters as claimed by Kyagulanyi’s lawyers but to deliver judgment and asked them not to take the court on a fishing voyage.
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