During the homily of the Easter celebrations, Masaka Catholic Bishop Serverus Jjumba provoked political chatter when he warned politicians against obstructing the will of the people. Without naming names, Jjumba said there are politicians who had forced their way into power without the mandate of the people.
In the coming months, Buddu, which goes by the name Greater Masaka, will be under tension as the High Court in the sub-region determines about 15 electoral petitions filed as a result of the contested general elections.
When President Museveni was combing this area late last year, as he canvassed votes for himself and his cadres in the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), he was told by Ms Justine Nameere, at the time one of the contestants for the Masaka City Woman Member of Parliament (MP) slot, that there was sparse attendance at his rallies because the regime’s supporters had been threatened by the Opposition.
Ms Nameere’s victory is among those being contested at the Masaka High Court, putting the sub-region on tenterhooks. The junior Local Government minister’s victory is facing a petition filed by Ms Rose Nalubowa of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party. Ms Lubowa is contesting the manner in which Mr Albert Asiimwe, the Masaka Chief Magistrate, overturned her victory.
Although Ms Nalubowa filed the much-awaited petition after having gathered, in her words, ‘certified documents and substantial evidence’, the initial review application she filed at the High Court in Masaka City, asking it to review Mr Asiimwe’s decision to declare Ms Nameere the winner, threw light on the lack of confidence she has in the Judiciary.
Kinobe queries
Once the Principal Judge, Ms Jane Frances Abodo, allocated the review application to acting Judge Simon Peter Kinobe, who is based in Kampala, Ms Nalubowa’s legal team asked him to recuse himself on the grounds that he had not only registered as an NRM member but also competed in the ruling party’s primaries in 2020.
When Judge Kinobe refused to stay clear of the case, saying he is Independent, Ms Nalubowa withdrew the application and lambasted the Judiciary for bringing Mr Kinobe from Kampala, where he is stationed at the High Court’s Civil Division, all the way to Masaka, yet the city, found hundreds of miles away from the capital, has its own judges.
It is not clear who Ms Abodo will allocate to determine Ms Nalubowa’s petition, but it is highly unlikely it will be a judge in Masaka. The stakes have already been heightened by claims from Ms Nameere and Mr Haruna Kasolo, NRM’s vice chairperson in charge of Buganda region, that it is President Museveni who gave directives to Mr Asiimwe to, by hook or crook, declare Ms Nameere victorious.
In Masaka District, NUP’s Joan Namutaawe, who defended her Masaka District Woman Representative (DWR) slot, has more work to do since her victory has been challenged by NRM’s Joanita Nalule, who claims the Electoral Commission (EC) twisted figures in favour of Ms Namutaawe.
Ms Nalule claims since the NRM swept the Local Government elections in Masaka District, which were largely boycotted by Opposition voters, it means she also won the parliamentary slot.
Even after the EC had declared Ms Namutaawe victorious, Ms Nalule’s supporters were asking President Museveni to intervene and have the former’s win overturned.
Ms Namutaawe has laughed off these claims, saying she is ready to defend her victory in court.
As far as Ms Namutaawe is concerned, it was Ms Nalule who tried to do everything in her power to steal the elections.
‘They are shameless because they tried to cheat me, and they failed. I will also defeat them in court,’ Ms Namutaawe said.
Sodo on the spot
Another petition filed in the Masaka High Court that will heighten tensions has been filed by Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA) partner, Mr John Jet Tumwebaze, who is challenging the victory of President Museveni’s half-brother, Mr Godfrey Aine Kaguta, alias Sodo, in Mawogola North, Sembabule District.
First, Mr Tumwebaze accuses Sodo of having no requisite academic qualifications that are needed for any person to stand as an MP.
Per the Ugandan Constitution, a person must have completed a minimum formal education of Advanced Level standard, Senior Six, or its equivalent.
Even before Ugandans went to the ballot, Mr Tumwebaze, without success, had asked the EC to furnish him with Sodo’s academic papers.
‘I would like to satisfy that the said Mr Aine [Sodo] is qualified to be a Member of Parliament in accordance with Article 80 (1) (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and sections 4 1 (c) and 30 (c) of the Parliamentary Elections Act Cap 77,’ Mr Tumwebaze has written in a one-page letter.
He added: ‘In accordance with Article 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and Sections 4, 5 and 10 of the Access to Information Act Cap 95 revised laws, I hereby request certified copies of all academic documents submitted by the said Mr Aine to the EC upon which he was nominated.’
Mr Tumwebaze also alleges that voters in Ssembabule didn’t vote since it was largely UPDF soldiers who stormed voting centres and stuffed the ballot boxes with pre-ticked ballot papers.
‘At most polling stations, there were more votes cast than registered voters. In Ssembabule, the ballot papers were available in the black market, and someone from the EC dared to reach out and give me an offer for buying them on the eve of election day,’ Mr Tumwebaze said after the elections.
Petitions galore
Masaka High Court will have many electoral petitions from Ssembabule to deal with because two petitions have been filed challenging NRM’s Ms Florence Nambaziira’s victory as the DWR.
The first petition was filed by Ms Mary Begumisa, who stood as an Independent after she was defeated by Ms Nambaziira in the NRM primaries. Ms Begumisa claims Ms Nambaziira lacks the minimum academic qualifications, and that the army tilted the election in her favour.
In the petition, Ms Begumisa lists the EC as the second respondent, accusing it of failing to conduct the January 15 election in accordance with the law. She argues that the outcome does not reflect the true will of the voters due to a series of alleged malpractices.
According to official results, Ms Nambaziira was declared the winner with 61,638 votes, representing 56.16 percent of the total votes cast. Ms Begumisa came second with 24,495 votes (22.32 percent), while musician-turned-politician Nina Kakunda, alias Nina Roz, polled 15,345 votes, and Esther Kyinkuhaire received 8,281 votes.
Ms Begumisa contends that the new DWR does not possess the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) or its equivalent, a mandatory requirement for parliamentary candidates.
In her affidavit, Ms Begumisa states that a review of Nambaziira’s nomination documents revealed no evidence of formal primary or secondary education. Instead, she says, Ms Nambaziira relied on Basic Vocational Education and Training (BVET) certificates in hairdressing issued by the Directorate of Industrial Training, which qualifications do not meet the equivalence standard of A-Level education. She noted that the training hours in the training cannot match the six years of formal secondary schooling required for eligibility to Parliament.
Ms Begumisa says the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the police interfered in the electoral process. NUP’s Nina-Roz has also filed a petition challenging Ms Nambaziira’s victory ‘because the army did the voting, not the common man.’
Still in Ssembabule, NUP’s Ms Gorreth Namugga has challenged NRM’s Mr Oswald Dez Byuma’s victory in Mawogola South, still insisting that the army did the voting, not the people. NUP’s Geoffrey Lutaaya, who has represented Kakuuto County for one term, in the coming days will be combing the corridors of Masaka High Court after he challenged the victory of NRM’s Mr Ismail Lubega Kaka.
Mr Lutaaya, a musician, not only accuses the EC and NRM of using the State machinery to alter results in favour of Mr Lubega, but also claims that 909 votes from three polling stations were disregarded.
The Bukomansimbi DWR slot will also be decided at the Masaka High Court after NUP’s Veronica Nanyondo challenged NRM’s Ms Ruth Katushabe’s razor-thin victory of just 206 votes.
Ms Nanyondo, who was seeking a fourth term, insists that Ms Katushabe’s victory was simply a work of fraud. In the aftermath of the election, the Masaka Chief Magistrate dismissed an application by Ms Nanyondo in which she sought a vote recount.