Banished MPs’ fate awaits Supreme Court decision

The Supreme Court will decide the final fate of six Members of Parliament who were ordered to vacate the House on grounds that they were elected in constituencies that were non-existent in law.

On December 27 last year, the Constitutional Court ordered the MPs to vacate Parliament.
Following the ruling, the Attorney General (AG) and the Electoral Commission (EC) filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking to halt or stay the implementation of the Constitutional Court decision until the main appeal challenging the judgement had been disposed of.

During the hearing of the application at the Supreme Court yesterday, the Principal State Attorney in the AG’s chambers, Mr George Karemeera, asked the judges to stay the implementation of the Constitutional Court orders, saying their appeal would be rendered futile.

Mr Karemeera asked the court to consider the fact that they followed the requirements of the law to file a notice of appeal, requested for record of proceedings, adding that their intended appeal has a good chance of success because it raises both constitutional and human rights issues which ought to be determined by the court.

“There is also a consideration of the right to a fair hearing for MPs who were ejected. We shall address that such a fundamental human right cannot be washed away and the respondent/complainant’s (Eddie Kwizera) interest is constitutionalism and human rights. We feel it is primarily sufficient for this court to determine,” he said.

However, Mr Kwizera’s lawyers; Mr Ben Wacha and Mr Wandera Ogalo asked court to reject the arguments of the AG and EC, saying they failed to bring sufficient evidence for court’s consideration.

“The petition giving rise to the judgment and orders was based on issues regarding the creation of municipalities as electoral constituencies and the act of holding elections and they have nothing to do with the MPs who stood for elections. The elections in these areas were alien to the Constitution and can only be found unconstitutional,” Mr Wacha said.

Mr Ogalo told the Supreme Court that the intending appellants did not follow the procedure which requires parties to apply for stay of execution of a judgment in the court of first instance (first trial court) before going to the superior court.

“The lower court gave orders and timelines to the EC to file evidence in court and failure of which would render the next general election void. If the stay is granted, EC would not do as ordered on the basis of stay and therefore, the next general election would be put at risk,” he said.

Mr Kwizera, the former MP for Bufumbira County East, sued the AG jointly with EC challenging the legality of 83 constituencies, which he said were illegally created by Parliament in collusion with the Executive.
After hearing submissions from both parties to the petition, the panel of seven justices of the Supreme Court said they would deliver their ruling on notice.

“Our ruling is reserved. We shall deliver our ruling on notice,” Justice Esther Kisaakye said.

Other justices are Stella Arach Amoko, Paul Mugamba, Rubby Opio Aweri, Richard Buteera, Prof Lillian Tibatemwa and Mike Chibita.
In December, the judges of the Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that the elections conducted in the six cited municipalities were not elections for an office of MP existing under the Constitution because they were not general election or by-elections.

The court ruled that six of the parliamentary seats contested for were not vacant and were already represented by elected MPs in the general election of 2016.

Court heard that the right number of geographical constituencies in Uganda today must be 214, not 297, which are represented in the 10th Parliament.

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