Musumba wins Kamuli MP election petition

National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s Hajati Rehema Watongola (R) and FDC's Salaamu Musumba. Monitor photo

High Court in Jinja has annulled the election of National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s Hajati Rehema Watongola and declared Kamuli Municipality MP seat vacant following a petition filed by former Kamuli District chairperson Salaamu Musumba.
Ms Musumba who lost in the February 18 elections on the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) petitioned court challenging Ms Watongola's election as MP of the newly created Kamuli Municipality.

According to the Electoral Commission results, Ms Watongola beat Ms Musumba to the seat, polling 8,175 votes against Ms Musumba’s 6,702 votes.
However, court said Ms Musumba had produced substantial evidence indicating that Ms Watongola lacked the requisite academic qualifications to contest for MP seat before calling for a by-election.
In the petition, which was filed on March 29, Ms Musumba included the Electoral Commission, Busoga University and the National Council for Higher Education as the other respondents in the case.
In the petition, Ms Musumba claimed that the documents from Busoga University, which Ms Watongola used to get nominated, were obtained fraudulently.

For her nomination, Ms Watongola presented a Uganda Certificate of Education from Town Hall in Jinja, diploma and degree certificates in Public Administration and Management from the university.
However, Ms Musumba contested the validity of the qualifications. The district chairperson also referred to minutes of a December 17, 2010, senate meeting of Busoga University, which resolved that a certificate used by Ms Watongola to gain admission to the institution was fake and subsequently recalled the qualifications it had awarded her.