Court rejects petition against MP Sekikubo
Mr Theodore Ssekikubo is carried shoulder high by his supporters after the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of his gazettement as Lwemiyaga MP-elect last week. However, his rival says the gazettement is illegal. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
Entebbe- Masaka High Court yesterday dismissed the application by a rival who was seeking more time to challenge the election of Theodore Sekikubo as MP for Lwemiyaga County.
The loser in the Lwemiyaga parliamentary race, Mr Patrick Nkalubo, had applied to court saying he was unable to challenge Mr Sekikubo’s election within the stipulated time because there was still a court order preventing the MP from being listed in the national gazette.
However, in her ruling, Justice Flavia Neija held that Mr Nkalubo was partly to blame for engaging in numerous applications during which the time for lodging an election petition to challenge Mr Sekikubo’s election elapsed.
The Parliamentary Elections Act 2005 demands that an aggrieved loser in an election files a petition challenging the election of the winner within 30 days after gazetting the results.
The aggrieved party can file an election petition after the 30 days only upon court permission after filing an application for extension of time and with valid reasons.
“In the result, I find that the applicant (Mr Nkalubo) does not have sufficient cause to justify extension of time given his conduct,” Justice Neija ruled.
The judge blamed Mr Nkalubo for not filing the petition against Mr Sekikubo and instead pursued the option of vote recount.
“Had the applicant (Mr Nkalubo) taken this path, he would have achieved his objective of filing a petition while at the same time applying for a recount. He decided to choose a thorny path the consequences of which are these legal challenges,” the judge said.
Speaking to this newspaper after the ruling, Mr Sekikubo blamed Mr Nakalubo for being driven by other people to file the petition. Mr Nkalubo’s sponsors, Sekikubo said, were political rivals who had tried to unseat him.
Mr Sekikubo and Mr Nkalubo were both candidates in the Lwemiyaga Constituency MP seat in Sembabule District. The returning officer declared Mr Sekikubo the winner in the February 18 polls. But Mr Nkalubo petitioned court seeking votes recount.
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Ssekikubo wrongly gazetted - rival
Mr Theodore Ssekikubo has been erroneously gazetted as Lwemiyaga MP-elect and in disregard of an order issued by the Chief Magistrates Court, his rival, Mr Patrick Nkalubo, has said
