Court dismisses case on nominations in new constituencies
What you need to know:
- Mr Muhumuza wants a declaration that the Members of Parliament elected in all constituencies created after the commencement of Local Government (Amendment) act 2013, were elected in contravention of the law.
Court has dismissed with costs an application in which a lawyer was seeking to temporarily stop nominations of candidates in the newly created constituencies.
Earlier this month, Mr Ben Muhumuza, dragged the Attorney General (AG), Ministry of Local Government and Electoral Commission (EC) to court, seeking an order quashing the decision of the Cabinet creating 46 new counties/constituencies. He argued that the decision was irrational and illegal.
However, on Friday the trial judge Mr Musa Ssekaana declined to grant Mr Muhumuza an interim order, reasoning that the application is trying to stop the electoral process which has already been set in motion.
“An election is like a flowing river which cannot be stopped, otherwise it would be a recipe for confusion and has dire financial consequences to the government and the parties involved in the electoral process,” he ruled.
Justice Ssekaana held that EC is the pivotal figure in matters of elections and has the power to act in accordance with the Constitution and other enabling laws thus it should not be restrained on flimsy grounds and without sound basis.
“It is clear that more than half of the constituencies have already had members of Parliament in their constituencies and stopping them now would be a breach of their legitimate expectation and their right to vote or representation to Parliament,” justice Ssekaana ruled.
In his main suit Mr Muhumuza states that for counties to be created, the process must be initiated by the administrative level of a county which is non-existent thus the creation of these constituencies by the cabinet was illegal and unconstitutional.
Court documents indicate that section 7(7) of the Local Government act cap 243 requires the creation or alteration of counties to be in consultation with or at the request of the relevant county councils. Mr Muhumuza states that it is the role of EC to create constituencies out of counties for election purposes.
“EC’s actions of nominating, conducting, supervising and declaring elected Members of Parliament in the said 46 counties were illegal,” he states.
Mr Muhumuza wants a declaration that the Members of Parliament elected in all constituencies created after the commencement of Local Government (Amendment) act 2013, were elected in contravention of the law.
