NRM loses Kasese re-count case

The Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kasese on Saturday stayed the election of two Forum for Democratic Change officials as Members of Parliament after a two-day court battle with their NRM rivals.

The court suspended indefinitely the re-count of votes for the Bukonzo East constituency and Kasese Woman seats after finding that ballot boxes paraded for the exercise had been tampered with.

Chief Magistrate Charles Sserubuga had on Friday ruled that a re-count for the two parliamentary seats be conducted following a successful application by the National Resistance Movement in Kasese, citing inaccuracies in declaration forms and alleging that their votes were counted as invalid.

Kasese District Returning Officer on February 20 had declared FDC’s Winnifred Kiiza as winner for the Kasese Woman MP beating NRM’s Rehema Muhindo with a margin of about 1,000 votes in the tightly contested race.

Family victory
Ms Kiiza’s husband, Mr Yokasi Bihande, also had his election as the Bukonzo East constituency upheld. He beat NRM’s Fred Businge by 243 votes in the race that was contested by four candidates.
Led by the NRM chairman in Kasese District, Dr Crispus Kiyonga, last week, the complainants applied to court seeking an order for a re-count of the votes in the two constituencies.

But during the re-count on Saturday morning, 10 boxes were found to have been tempered with in the period between declaration day and re-count day. Some of the boxes were found empty.

The boxes for Kitabu Primary School A-B polling stations in Kyalhumba Sub-county, Bukonzo County East was found tempered with and a total of 24 forged invalid votes were discovered. The invalid votes were marked in different ink with each voter marking against the name of FDC’s Yokasi Bihandi and PPP’s Amon Kahungu.

The boxes for Kiyonzo polling station in Karambi Sub-county and Kathoma polling station in Munkunyu Sub-county, both in Bukonzo County East, were aslo found empty. Mr Sserubuga quashed the exercise, saying whoever is not happy with his decision should seek audience with the High Court.

“I hereby dismiss this case indefinitely because what has been found today is contrary to the application that called for the re-count. So, whoever is not satisfied should go to the High Court,” Mr Sserubuga said.

He issued re-count certificates declaring Ms Kiiza and Bihande as winners to retain their seats in the 9th Parliament. Ms Muhindo said she was not satisfied with the court decision, adding that she will appeal to the High Court immediately.

Wild celebrations
The verdict threw FDC in wild celebrations forcing Kiiza, Bihande and outgoing Busongora South MP Mr Christopher Kibanzanga and their supporters to walk 7 kms from court at Rukoki to her office in Kasese town where they jubilated for more than three hours before addressing their supporters.
They carried placards on the streets with phrases in Lukhonzo reading, “Peace is coming, Kiyonga, the Defence Minister has been defeated and he is no more”.

Addressing her supporters, Ms Kiiza described Dr Kiyonga as a traitor of the people of Kasese who always want them to remain apart. “I must say Kiyonga has been taught a big lesson because he thought we can be deprived of our victory in any unfair way. I thank my God because He is always by my side,” she said.

FDC supporters started up a legal fund by donating money in case of any future legal battles.