Uganda’s Judiciary is in final preparations to hear afresh 15 election petitions which were sent back to the high court for reconsideration by the court of appeal, this time by other justices.
The court of appeal found out that most of these petitions were dismissed on flimsy grounds and technicalities, for instance the lack of valid practising certificates by the lawyers of the appellants, among others.
These petitions include one in which Annet Nyakekyo sought to challenge Ekanya Geoffrey’s election as Tororo North MP, Fred Nyanzi Ssentamu seeking the cancelation of Muhammed Nsereko’s election victory as Kampala central MP, and another pitting Vincent Kayanja De Paul against Fabris Lulinda, in which the former accused the latter of rigging the Entebbe mayoral election.
Besides, there is another petition in which Hatwib Katoto of Katerera constituency sought to challenge the election of his brother Muhammed Kato for lack of academic documents. In Dodoth East constituency, Samson Lokeris petitioned high court to annul the election of Emmanuel Komol, citing voting irregularities, among other petitions.
The Spokesperson for the high Court Jameson Karemani says Flavia Zeija who heads justices at the court is in constant coordination with the registrar, to determine new justices who will take on these cases.
It is worth noting that in the aftermath of 2020/2021 national elections, the judiary registered about 162 election related petitions, including Parliamentary petitions while others were local government level oriented.
Of the 162, 9 petitions were withdrawn by petitioners themselves, leaving the judiciary to deal with only 152 court cases.
After hearing some of these petions, the high court ordered by-elections in several areas and constituencies, which was deemed necessary after a careful analysis leading to passing of judgments.
It should be noted that 15 of these petitions had been dismissed by high court, which forced complainants to run to the court of appeal for further redress after being dissatisfied.
The court of appeal therefore sent these petitions back to the high court for further scrutiny and fresh hearing, after determining that they were dismissed on flimsy grounds.
According to the Parliamentary Elections Act 2005, election petitions are not supposed to delay in courts of law without being decided, but heard and judgments passed in a period not more than 30 days.
Asked if there will be need for more finances to see to it that these petitions are heard and judgements passed in a timely manner, Karemani said it will depend on the justices who will take on the petitions.
“Of course after determining the justices who will work on those petitions, most of them will be coming from their stations, not that those at the station will take on these petitions, we will need to draft a budget to cater for the effective and timely hearing of these petitions,” Karemani explains.
He adds that the office of the high court registrar and the principal judge are in preparations to determine the total amount of funds needed after which they will be solisted, to facilitate this process, such that these petitions are concluded.
The head of litigation at Electoral Comission Erick Sabiiti says as the electoral body, they do not have any problems with the decision by the court of appeal, and later on the high court to prepare to hear these petitions freshly, and that they are ready to defend themselves incase they are summoned.
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