Court dismisses petition against Masaka mayor Namayanja

Masaka High Court has dismissed a case challenging the election of Masaka City mayor, Ms Florence Namayanja, over academic qualifications.
Mr Willis Mbababazi Bamwesigye of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) had filed a petition challenging Ms Namayanja National Unity Platform (NUP)’s academic qualification, claiming that she lacked the minimum requirement to contest for the mayorship.
However, Justice Ketra Katunguka, on Monday dismissed the case on grounds that Bamwesigye filed the application late, 37 days after Namayanja had been gazzeted.
Under the constitution an applicant must file a petition within 30 days after declaration and then serve the respondents in seven days after filling, which Bamwesigye did not do.
Namayanja’s lawyer Alexender Lule welcomed the court decision noting that they were never served by the applicant, and only got to learn about the case through social media, adding that it did not have any merit.
“We are happy that the court agreed with us that the case had several issues and did not stand any merit since we had not been served. The mayor is now free to do her office work since she has no case to answer, though we did not get costs,” he said.
Namayanja was declared the Masaka City Mayor in the just concluded general election with 28824 votes while Bamwesigye got 2421, in a race that attracted six other candidates.