Mukono High Court on Monday evening dismissed the third election petition filed against Idah Erios Nantaba challenging her victory as the Kayunga District Woman Member of Parliament.
The petition was filed by Harriet Nakwede who contested for the same position under the National Unity Platform and emerged the first runner’s up polled 37,117 votes and Nantaba 42,725 votes. Nakwede felt aggrieved by the outcomes before petitioning court seeking to nullify the results and declare a by-election.
Nakwede through her Lawyer Daniel Mudhumbusi averred that Nantaba came to cast her vote with about 17 buses filled with people unknown in the area to vote for her, bribed voters and during the voting process, her agents were denied access close to where the ballots were being issued to voters.
She also claimed that at some polling stations, her agents were made to sign the declaration forms before the filling and counting of the results and during the tallying of votes, only Nantaba was allowed to access the Electoral Commission’s tallying tent.
Nakwede also accused the EC for delaying the declaration exercise hence creating space for altering results. However, Nantaba through her Lawyer Ambrose Tebyasa denied the accusations saying they were baseless allegations without proof and asked court to dismiss the petition.
Tebyasa demonstrated before court that all candidates attended in person during the entire tallying process and were accorded equal treatment and that there have been no declaration delays.
He also proved before court that witnesses presented by petitioner are either none residents and registered voters in Kayunga district. According to him, a person whose name is entered on the voters’ register is not enough to state that is a registered voter. There must be an extract of relevant page of the voters’ register presented as evidence before court.
EC’s Lawyer Jennifer Somali Angeyo also demonstrated before court that EC verified the entries and all the results as announced at polling stations and tallied accordingly before declaration of results without errors.
In the Kayunga District Returning Officer Rashid Musinguzi’s affidavit, it is also indicated that the tallying process was conducted in a transparent manner and all tamper proof envelopes containing the declaration of results forms from the respective polling stations were opened prior to tallying in the presence of the candidates and others agents present.
Justice Olive Kazaarwe Mukwaya in a judgement sent to parties via email concluded that the Petitioner was given ample time and opportunity to present evidence in support of the various complaints in her petition against Nantaba and EC but failed to do so,
“In my view, she has failed in her duty to prove these claims to the satisfaction of this court and on a balance of probabilities. I find that Nantaba did not commit any electoral offences during the electoral process and that the elections of the District Woman representative of Parliament in Kayunga District were conducted in compliance with the electoral laws and principles. This Petition is accordingly dismissed with costs to Nantaba and EC.” Lady Justice Mukwaya ruled.
Tebyasa applauds court for administering justice to her client saying they are currently preparing file the bill of costs against Nakwede in court.
Nakwede says will make a communication on the judgment after consulting her lawyers.
This is the last election petition against Nantaba to be dismissed by Mukono High Court. The first application was filed by Jackeline Kobusingye Birungi challenging the Nantaba’s academic qualifications but it was dismissed after she failed to provide enough evidence supporting her claims.
The second petition was filed by Ritah Nabadda, a voter at Kayunga who had prepared video evidence showing Nantaba bribing voters but her petition was dismissed for lacking required backup of registered 500 voters.
Nabadda resorted to Court of Appeal to overturn the decision of Lady Justice Mukwaya.
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