KAMPALA, UGANDA: Kawempe North election loser, Sulaiman Kidandala has Tuesday said he has finalised plans to appeal against the ruling of the high court which dismissed his petition challenging the election of MP Muhammad Ssegirinya into parliament.
Kidandala who polled 7,512 votes in the Kawempe North polls against Ssegirinya’s 41,197 votes dragged the latter to court seeking nullification of his victory for lack of requisite academic qualifications.
In a court ruling on Tuesday morning, High Court judge, Lady Justice Henrietta Wolayo dismissed the petition challenging Ssegirinya’s election for lack of service.
She explained that by the time a party goes to court, they must have evidence in support of their case but not to use the courts to gather evidence as it would not be impartial.
However, according to Kidandala’s lawyers led by Kenneth Paul Kakande (who is also a member of the National Unity Platform), their client has finalized plans to appeal again the ruling in the Court of Appeal.
“The judge has made a ruling to the effect that the election petition was not effectively served but we have received instructions from our client to appeal against the ruling of the judge,” Kakande said shortly after court.
He explained that it is appalling that having served Ssegirinya while still in police detention at the Central Police Station in Kampala, at Kitalya Prison, and on the court’s notice board, the court had dismissed the petition for lack of service.
“We have decided to move to a higher court to see how it will decide the case. In our understanding, effective service is making the other person know the case against them. I believe this must be analysed by the Court of Appeal,” he said.
Kakande also aimed dig at the Electoral Commission for what he termed as taking over the role of representing Ssegirinya in the case.
“The Electoral Commission took over instructions and is now representing Ssegirinya in the case which raises questions. We don’t know why. “
However, according to the Electoral Commission lawyer, Eric Sabiiti, they realized an error in the petition that he said they could not let go.
“We had to apply to the court to make a pronouncement on whether there was effective service which it did today,” Sabiiti said.
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