Court throws out NUP’s Musisi petition against Jinja South division mayor

NRM's Ashraf Nasser has been declared the winner of the Jinja South Division Mayoral seat by Jinja High Court presided over by Justice Joseph Murangira.

This followed the court's decision to dismiss the petition filed by National Unit Platform (NUP)’s Muhamed Musisi Kibugujjo challenging the victory of Nasser.

In his petition, Musisi through his lawyers of Kigenyi Opira and Co. Advocates wanted the court to cancel the victory of Nasser on grounds that the election was not conducted within the principles laid out in the Constitution of Uganda.

Mr Musisi said the non-compliance affected the results in a substantial manner.
He also accused the Electoral Commission of invalidly declaring Nasser as a winner instead of him.

However, Nasser’s lawyer Shaban Nkuutu during the submissions asked the court to dismiss the petition on grounds that the evidence accompanying it is controversial.

“The affidavits were signed in Jinja, but the stamp of the commissioner indicates Kampala. The petitioner failed to attach the summary of the evidence. The petition lacks merit and it should be dismissed because it is a hoax affidavit," he said.

Justice Murangira in his two-hour judgment said: "The first respondent ( Nasser) is duly elected and was declared a winner by the Electoral Commission because the election was conducted and supervised by the second respondent ( Electoral Commissioner) in compliance with the electoral laws as laid down in the local government act," he said.

Justice Murangira said the 35 affidavits including that of the petitioner, the signatures of the witnesses, and names differ from the details on the National Identity card and the declaration forms. 

He dismissed the case with costs and asked anyone who is not satisfied with his ruling to appeal within a period of 14 days.

Mr Musisi said he is going to appeal the judgment.
“I’m not satisfied with the judgment of one judge. I have hopes that the three judges of the Court of Appeal will make a judgment in my favour because I have evidence that the election was not free and fair," he said.

In the elections conducted on January 25, 2021, Mr Musisi got 4,973 votes while Nasser garnered 6,910 votes.