Masaka High Court has set December 9 to give its verdict in the election petition in which former Mawogola County MP Gorreth Namugga is challenging the victory of the incumbent Dez Oswaldo Byuuma.
Justice Rosette Comfort Kania set the date for the ruling on October 31 after the respondents presented their final witness, the Electoral Commission’s principal legal officer, Enoch Kugonza.
Kugonza dismissed claims that the Electoral Commission hired illiterate and partisan presiding officers in the Mawogola County election on January 15, which the petitioner blames for some of the irregularities.
He, however, struggled to answer some questions raised by the petitioner’s lawyers, led by Evans Ocheing and Caleb Alaka, about the alteration of results and discrepancies in the number of votes polled by candidates, which at several polling stations exceeded the number of registered voters.
Some of the names of the polling stations mentioned in the election petition include Katimba B, Kabasanda Growers, Kabundi playground and Kasaana primary school polling station, among others.
These and other polling stations, summing to 20, are said to have altered results, falsifications and cancellations, among other issues whose causes could not be clearly explained during cross-examinations by Mr Kugonza, who at some point said that he was not the author of the contested Declaration of Results forms.
‘Some of the copies of DR forms on record are not clear, because they are photocopies of certified copies; let the petitioner share the certified copies of these contested DR forms so that we can have these issues of the said falsified results get off the way,’ Geoffrey Kandebe, lead respondent lawyer, told the court.
However, the petitioner’s lawyer, Alaka, told the court they were not aware that the respondent wanted copies of certified copies, thereby asking the court to allow them to file copies of the questionable DR forms on November 2 for the court to observe them.
The presiding Judge Kania accepted the prayer by Alaka, allowing him to present the certified copies of the contested DR forms, before giving parties schedules for filing written submissions.
The petitioner will file their submissions by November 12, while the respondent will submit his by November 23, and both parties have up to November 30 to file rejoinders, and then the court will deliver its ruling on December 19, 20226.
Speaking to Journalists after the court session, Haruna Ssewaya, the respondent’s lawyer, said that they are going to embark on filing more evidence to court to show that their client (Byuuma), won the election in a free and fair manner and is the true choice of the people of Mawogola County.
On her part, Ms Namugga said that they have shown the court that there were mass irregularities in the election, adding that there is a need for the court to base its decision on this evidence, which they are going to file in written submissions, to nullify Byuuma’s victory.
According to Electoral Commission records, Byuuma won the election with 25,781 votes, Namugga polled 4,857 votes, while Independents Denis Ddumba and Maurice Mukiibi got 924 and 436 votes respectively.