Ssekikubo rival files another election petition

Masaka- Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo is yet to settle for his legislative duties after his longtime political rival went back to court seeking to challenge his victory in the February 18 polls.

Mr Patrick Nkalubo, a third time contestant against Mr Ssekikubo, is back in court, praying for extension of time to allow him challenge his rival’s victory through an election petition after his earlier application of vote recount was dismissed.

In his application last Friday, Mr Nkalubo alleges that he has substantial evidence to prove the irregularities such as vote rigging and ballot staffing, which he says marred the election in Lwemiyaga, hence denying him victory.

“I am highly hopeful that court will accept my application, because the magistrate had stayed his (Ssekikubo) gazettement but the order was violated. So I went back and gathered all the necessary evidence to take him on through a formal petition like it is done to sworn-in MPs,” he noted.

However, Mr Ssekikubo, who also filled his defense on Friday, described his court encounters as contemptuous attempts that intend to disrupt his concentration in Parliament, blaming all this on his political enemies in government.

“I and my brother Nkalubo are at peace but there are selfish and highly placed individuals using him to fight me such that they stifle my voice and efforts to unearth corruption tendencies they have involved themselves in,” he argued but without naming any.
In his reply filled through his lawyer, Mr Medard Ssegona, Mr Ssekikubo challenged the jurisdiction of court to receive a fresh election petition after the mandatory six months since the election was held expired.

“They have actually asked for too much from court which no competent judge can entertain,” he said.

Shortly after the February elections, Mr Nkalubo ran to court complaining that the poll results were affected by arithmetic errors to Mr Ssekikubo’s advantage, which he strongly denied.

However, after a protracted back-and-forth trial between the Masaka chief magistrate and Constitutional Court, the Masaka High Court presided over by Justice Lawrence Gidudu dismissed the application on grounds that it was filed late.

However, Mr Nkalubo is still fighting on to capture the seat. He is now seeking leave of the High Court so that he can appeal against the ruling as well as ask for extension within which to file an election petition.

Masaka High Court has set September 26 when both applications will be heard, pending dissemination of notice to appeal to higher court.

About the law
While Section 60 (3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act 2005, demands that electoral petitions be filed within 30 days after which the person was gazetted, Section 76(3) of the Court of Appeal rules requires that an appeal be lodged within 14 days after the decision against which is desired to challenge was passed.

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