KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Court of Appeal has upheld the victory of Ms. Joyce Bagala Ntwatwa as duly elected Woman Member of Parliament for Mityana District.
In a ruling delivered on Friday, June 24, the three appellate Justices by Judge Geofrey Kiryabwire overturned the decision by the high court of Mubende that saw Bagala’s victory nullified in favor of Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba on grounds of election malpractice through bribery and alleged non compliance of the electoral laws.
Bagala who subscribes to the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) defeated Minister Nabakooba of the ruling NRM party in the January 14 polls for the Mityana Woman MP position prompting the latter to challenge the election in court.
Nabakooba also accused Bagala of bribing voters through Francis Butebi Ssembusi, a renowned businessman and father to Mityana municipality MP Francis Zaake who is said to have given 200,000 Shillings to Bonny Kalema, Annet Nakaggwa, Annet Alumaiya and Varitino Sebwarida and asked them to vote for Joyce Bagala.
On October 2, the Mubende High Couty Judge Emmanuel Baguma nullified Bagala’s elections faulting her for not bringing Butebi to court, to justify whether he was giving out money on her behalf. He further ruled that Nabakooba proved her case on a balance of probabilities to the satisfaction of the court. He ordered the Electoral Commission– EC to conduct fresh elections for the seat.
However, Bagala challenged the high court decision in the Court of Appeal which on Friday morning made a judgement.
In today’s ruling, the three justices reasoned with Bagala and Electoral Commission’s lawyers that the lower court was wrong to throw her out and order a fresh election.
The court consequently ordered Nabakooba to pay the costs incurred by Bagala throughout the court process.
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