It’s illegal for serving soldiers to participate in politics - court

The Court of Appeal has reaffirmed that it is illegal for a serving Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) soldier to participate in any partisan election before being discharged by the military.

The ruling follows Capt Yuventine Omara’s contesting for the Abim District chairmanship in the 2021 General Election before he got a discharge letter from the army.

Although Capt Omara was declared winner of the seat, the court said he illegally participated in the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party primaries and the Local Council Five elections.

“…the appellant had not yet been discharged from the UPDF and, therefore, he was not qualified for nomination as a candidate to the position of LC5 chairperson of Abim District,” the justices held yesterday.

As such, the court ordered that Mr Omara vacates the seat.

The three justices of the appellate court: Egonda Ntende, Catherine Bamugemereire and Eva Luswata, instead declared the first runner-up in the Abim District chairmanship elections, Mr Johnny De West Ariko, the new district chairperson.

“Mr Johnny De West Ariko the respondent/cross appellant is declared the winner of the election for the seat of LC5 chairperson of Abim District, and shall take office with effect from the date of this judgement,” the judges ruled.

In 2021 General Elections, the Electoral Commission declared Capt Omara the winner of Abim District LC5 seat with 14,000 votes, while his sole rival, Mr Ariko garnered less than 5,000 votes.

Mr Ariko petitioned the High Court, claiming Capt Omara had participated in the elections illegally since he was still a serving military officer.

But Mr Ariko lost the case, with the court ruling that he had filed it under the wrong provisions of the law. However, he appealed and this time won the case.

The court said Capt Omara garnering more votes than Mr Ariko in the 2021 polls was immaterial since he was in the race illegally.

The court said since only two candidates were nominated and participated in the election process, “we accepted the submission that had the Electoral Commission done its work, Mr Omara would not have been on the ballot and Mr Ariko would have proceeded to contest in the election unopposed...and he would have been declared the winner of the elections unopposed.”

Mr Ariko’s lawyers led by Jude Byamukama had argued that the unrebutted evidence showing that on September 28, 2020 at the time Mr Omara was nominated as a candidate, he was still a serving army officer at the rank of Captain and still drawing a full monthly salary and allowance proved with his salary slips for July, August and September 2020.

The law

Section 99, of the UPDF Act 2005, states that a serving officer or militant who deserves to seek political office shall first resign or retire from the Defence Forces according to regulations made by the minister. Article 208 (2) of the Constitution prohibits members of the armed forces from participating in partisan activities.