Age limit petition hearing winds up in Mbale

Left to right: Constitutional Court judges Cheborion Barishaki, Remmy Kasule, Deputy Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, Kenneth Kakuru and Elizabeth Musoke at the hearing of the age limit case in Mbale District recently. File photo

MBALE- The hearing of the consolidated presidential age limit petitions that had taken close to two weeks, has ended.
The hearing closed on Thursday night at about 8:30pm in Mbale town.

Upon the conclusion of the hearing of the much publicised case, Deputy Chief Justice and the head of the five-judge panel, Mr Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, said the court will deliver its judgment “on notice.” Legally, this means the date when judgement will be made is not yet known fixed.

But Justice Owiny-Dollo hinted that the judgment will be delivered “soon” in Mbale.
“This matter is adjourned and the judgment will be given on notice. The judgment will be delivered from Mbale in this same courtroom...” he said.

Being a unique case of great public importance, upon the conclusion of the hearing, each of the judges on the panel made parting remarks in the open courtroom.

The other justices on the panel were; Remmy Kasule, Elizabeth Musoke, Cheborion Barishaki and Kenneth Kakuru.

What cut across all the justices was that they thanked the petitioners and respondents and their lawyers and promised to deliver justice basing “on law and facts.”

Justice Owiny-Dollo asked them and their lawyers to restrain from discussing the matter until the judgement is read out.

“Between now and the judgment, my plea is that leave the court which never invited you here but you came at your own invitation, leave the court to do its work,” Justice Owiny-Dollo said.

He said: “We undertake as we have promised before, we give you individual and collective words that we will deliver our decision on all the matters that have been presented before us, that we will give our word and it’s not far.”

The justices also assured the litigants that the judgment “will bear in mind the future generation.”

Justice Owiny-Dollo, however, warned court users to refrain from bashing courts of law because they are the last resort of their refugee and that once the courts are destroyed, they (court users) will not have anywhere to run to.

The petitioners among others challenged the entire process that led to the amendment of the Constitution that saw the removal of the presidential upper cap limit of 75 years and the lower age cap limit of 35 years.

The petitioners are also challenged the extension of the office term of Parliament and local government council from five to seven years.
They want the whole age limit law annulled.

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