Court dismisses case blocking nomination of Lwengo Woman MP
Ms Namujju chats with her lawyer Geoffrey Ntambirweki Kandeebe after the court session on October 12, 2020. PHOTO | MALIK FAHAD JJINGO
What you need to know:
- The presiding judge Victoria Katumba Nankintu, agreed with the defendants and dismissed the case with costs. She noted that the issue of Namujju’s names (names Cissy Donizia vs Cissy Namujju Donizia) was already determined by the Court of Appeal following a case in which Paul Sserwanga filed in 2016.
Masaka High Court has dismissed a case seeking to block Lwengo District Woman MP, Ms Cissy Namujju, from being nominated to contest for the same seat in the 2021 election.
Ms Sarah Nkonge Muwonge, Namujju’s political rival through her lawyer Sam Sserwanga dragged the latter to court arguing that the name on her academic documents is different from that in the Electoral Commission voters register.
Court heard that Namujju’s academic certificates of both O’ Level and A’ Level bear two names Namujju Dionizia, yet the EC register and national register bear three names Namujju Cissy Dionizia which indicates that these are two different people.
“The certificates the defendant (Namujju) holds have different names than what appears in the national and in EC registers and she should not use such certificates to be nominated to contest as a member of parliament,” Sserwanga told court.
Namujju’s lawyers led by Geoffrey Ntambirweki Kandeebe told the court that the law is clear that if one has names in the national register which are not the same as those appearing on the academic documents, he/she has to do a statutory declaration, not a deed poll as the applicants had noted.
Mr Kandeebe said his client did a statutory declaration as required by the law and asked the court to dismiss the case.
The presiding judge Victoria Katumba Nankintu, agreed with the defendants and dismissed the case with costs. She noted that the issue of Namujju’s names (names Cissy Donizia vs Cissy Namujju Donizia) was already determined by the Court of Appeal following a case in which Paul Sserwanga filed in 2016.
“The academic certificates the defendant (Namujju) holds have a picture similar to that appears on her National Identity Card which indicates that this is the same person, and the defense counsel has proved that Namujju did a statutory declaration as required by the law to explain the variation in her names. I, therefore, find no merit in this case, and it's hereby dismissed with costs” Justice Nakintu ruled.
[email protected]
