Case on Museveni age set for hearing

Mr Benjamin Alipanga, the lead petitioner and a confessed supporter of Mr Mbabazi. PHOTO by FAISWAL KASIRYE.

What you need to know:

All set. The Constitutional Court released a timetable for the hearing of the petition which seeks to block Mr Museveni’s candidature in 2016

Kampala.

The kick-off of the legal showdown between former prime minister Amama Mbabazi on the one hand and President Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) on the other, has now been set.

The “battle line” was drawn after the Constitutional Court released a timetable for the hearing of the petition, which seeks to block Mr Museveni’s candidature in 2016 presidential elections on account that he will be above the constitutional age limit of 75.
The petition was filed by Mr Mbabazi’s supporter, Mr Benjamin Alipanga.

Court responds
On March 25, the Registrar of the Constitutional Court, wrote to lawyers of both the petitioner Mr Alipanga and NRM as the respondent, informing them to prepare for the hearing.

“The petitioner is requested to prepare conferencing notes in the above mentioned petition/appeal as shown below,” the court’s communication reads in part.

Court wants Mr Alipanga’s four law firms to present brief facts of the petition, issues or complaints they want to be resolved by the court, list of legal authorities or references they intend to use and to submit written arguments and serve the said documents to the respondent (NRM) not later than Monday.

According to the Registrar’s communication, which was dispatched to both parties on Wednesday, the NRM’s lawyers, led by Mr Kiryowa Kiwanuka, are expected to reply to the petitioner’s written submissions by April 6. The petitioner will file a rejoinder, if any, by April 9 to counter the arguments raised by the NRM lawyers.

“The court will then hear the conferencing inter-party on April 16 at 10.30am. Thereafter the outcome of the conferencing session will be forwarded to the head of the court for directions on the way forward in relation to the quick disposal of the petition,” the court’s circular further states.

Under the Uganda Constitution, Justice Steven Kavuma, by virtue of being the Deputy Chief Justice, is the head of the Constitutional Court, which also sits as the Court of Appeal when handling criminal and civil appeals from the High Court.

In this petition, the court will sit as the Constitutional Court comprising five judges, which is the required number for hearing constitutional matters.

“We have not been informed of the justices going to hear our case but either way, it doesn’t matter. We are confident we shall get justice,” said Mr Severino Twinobusingye, one of the lawyers representing Mr Alipanga.

Mr Kiryowa Kiwanuka on the other hand declined to comment on the petition, while his colleagues’ known telephone numbers went unanswered. However, sources in the NRM’s legal team confirmed they had received the court’s communication about the hearing schedule for the petition.

Although Mr Mbabazi has not publically commented on the matter, his sister-in-law and former Agriculture minister Hope Mwesigye, swore an affidavit supporting the petition. In the affidavit, Ms Mwesigye states that Mr Museveni chaired, “an irregular, illegal and flawed” December NRM delegates conference at Namboole.

Full petition

In February, Alipanga filed a petition in the Constitutional Court in which he consolidated the new issues with the first one he had filed. The consolidated petition is now seeking court declarations that:

Mr Museveni is ineligible to contest for presidency in 2016 because he will be 75 and will not serve the full five-year term because Article 103 (b) bars a person above 75 to be elected president.

The Electoral Commission should not register Mr Museveni as a presidential candidate until the matter is disposed of.

Parliament should not amend the provisions of the Constitution, which are now before the court for interpretation.

The Kyankwanzi sole candidate resolution was illegal, unconstitutional and undermines democracy in the party.

The report by Wakiso Woman MP Rosemary Sseninde’s committee is a nullity because “it usurped powers of the main organs of the party.”
The Electoral Commission condoned acts of “impunity and bad governance” by gazetting and purporting to legitimise the impugned amendments to the NRM party constitution on December 16, 2014, after the Nambole delegates conference.

The appointment of NRM Secretary General Kasule Lumumba, her deputy Richard Todwong, deputy treasurer Kenneth Omona and treasurer Rosemary Namayanja were unconstitutional.