Rwakoojo, Mayega lawyers battle over security deposit

Mr Mayega, also contends that Mr Rwakoojo has no minimum qualifications to hold the job and wants the EC secretary charged with uttering false documents for allegedly forging a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business from McPherson College in the USA.

Kampala

Kampala High Court will tomorrow decide whether opposition politician Henry Mayega should deposit security in court before hearing of a case in which he is seeking the dismissal of Electoral Commission Secretary Sam Rwakoojo over alleged incompetence.

Presiding judge Elizabeth Musoke set the date after submissions in an application for security, raised by Mr Rwakoojo’s attorneys objecting to proceedings of the case until they are assured of recovering costs they would incur.

Mr Rwakoojo’s attorney’s argued that Mr Mayega, a Uganda People’s Congress presidential aspirant, does not have the means to meet the costs they are likely to incur in defending the case. “I am trying to show court that the actions brought by Mr Mayega are frivolous and annoying and we have a good defence. The affidavits in support of this application spell out clearly that he (Mayega) cannot succeed,” the lawyers argued.

Mr Mayega’s attorneys asked court to dismiss the application arguing that payment of security in a matter of public interest litigation would deter litigants from bringing matters before court.

Not legal
“Mere poverty of a complainant is not by it self a ground for ordering security for costs. If this was so, poor litigants would be deterred from enforcing their right through legal process,” the plaintiff’s attorney’s argued. The suit, which acts on years of complaints against Mr Rwakoojo, relies heavily on a 2002 report in which a select committee of Parliament chaired by Mr Nshimye Ssebuturo found that the EC secretary “does not have the relevant qualifications”.

Mr Mayega, also contends that Mr Rwakoojo has no minimum qualifications to hold the job and wants the EC secretary charged with uttering false documents for allegedly forging a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business from McPherson College in the USA.

Mr Mayega’s attorney’s on Friday wrote to the US College after a verbal confirmation that Mr Rwakoojo was not an alumni. “Further to this confirmation, we are requesting for an official response from you,” the letter also copied to the acting IGG, Mr Raphael Baku, and the US Embassy reads.