Former Defense Minister Vincent Ssempijja’s second attempt to get back to Parliament has suffered a setback after his application for a vote recount in Kalungu East Constituency was dismissed.
This came after Masaka Chief Magistrates Court, where Mr Ssempijja, last week, through his lawyer, Mr Simon Kasangaki, dragged his opponent and National Unity Platform (NUP)’s flag bearer, Yusuf Kiruluuta Nkeretaanyi, to secure a vote recount, discovered that some ballot boxes were tampered with before the recount that had been scheduled by the court yesterday.
Mr Sempijja, who was the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) flag bearer in the January 15 polls, argued that vote counting and tallying were marred by irregularities, which denied him victory.
On Tuesday, Masaka Chief Magistrate Abert Asiimwe after granting the recount rushed to Kalungu District Electoral Commission offices to supervise the exercise. However, after sorting the ballot boxes from Kalungu East Constituency , he was shocked to discover that five of them had been tampered with -prompting him to halt the exercise .
Nkeretaanyi’s lawyer Samuel Muyizzi in his submission, told the magistrate that since it was evident that the exercise could not go on following discovery of broken ballot boxes seals, court should clear his client to get gazetted as the duly elected legislator for Kalungu East.
‘Having found out that five out of the ballot boxes presented by the returning officer have improper seals, we submit that the purpose of the recount is not achievable .In such circumstances, a recount should be avoided and that you proceed to confirm that the respondent was duly declared as the duly elected member of parliament for Kalungu East,’ he said.
In his submission, Mr Ssempijja’s lawyer Mr Kasangaki said his client was disappointed that the process of the vote recount had been frustrated.
‘We maintain that our client is aggrieved. We reiterate our submission that there was vote inflation, which we hoped to discover through the process we had undertaken. Unfortunately, that has not been successful. Our only recourse shall be to pursue the next available remedy so that Hon. Ssempijja Vincent gets justice.’
When the magistrate gave Mr Ssempijja a chance to speak about the exercise, the latter said: ‘Certainly, God did not break these box seals, but He must have seen the one who broke them. Personally, I have not seen justice done, because I wanted to know how it was cheated which has not happened. In my mind, I have to find a way to satisfy myself on what I complained about.’
His ruling Asiimwe said: ‘.the law is that once the ballot boxes are tampered with, the purpose of recount is frustrated and court cannot continue with vote recount and both parties have admitted this, indeed the process well organised couldn’t be concluded due to broken and tampered with ballot boxes this notwithstanding that the main seal on the store was still intact. I therefore call off the vote recount for the directly elected MP in Kalungu East Constituency because the process has been frustrated.’
He advised the applicant to seek redress in the High Court, where a full election petition can be heard.
According to results announced by EC returning officer, Teddy Nabukenya, on January 16, Kiruruuta (NUP),a newcomer in Kalungu politics polled 15,473 votes while Mr Sempijja polled 13,219 votes, representing a margin of 2,254 votes.The incumbent MP, Francis Katabaazi, got 649 votes, independents Deogratious Katongole ( 637 votes) , Irene Nanyanzi (485 votes), Democratic Front’s Mathias Kintu (189 votes) and Democratic Party’s Asuman Kabonge ( 90 votes). This is not the first time Mr Ssempijja has demanded a recount after a defeat in a parliamentary contest.
During the 2021 General Election, Mr Ssempijja also went to court and secured an application for a recount of votes in the same constituency after Francis Katabaazi, who had the NUP ticket then defeated him. Katabaazi had polled 12,198 votes while Mr Ssempijja garnered 10,865 votes, indicating a margin of 1,333 votes. However, when the recounting of votes exercise kicked off at Masaka Chief Magistrates Court premises, it was discovered that some of the seals on the ballot boxes had been broken, forcing the then chief magistrate Charles Yeteise to call off the exercise.
Mr Ssempijja has previously served as area MP and Minister for Agriculture .Before joining Parliament, he served as deputy Mubende District administrator (1992-1993), Resident District Commissioner -Masaka (1995-1998) and later Masaka District chairperson (1998-2011).