Cissy Namujju and her supporters at Masaka high court during the last court sitting in October
By Ruth Nanyonga
Cissy Namujju, Lwengo District Woman MP can breathe a sigh of relief after Masaka High Court dismissed an election petition filed by her arch rival Sarah Muwonge Nkonge.
The ruling delivered on Friday via email by Justice Rossette Comfort Kania, upheld the victory of Cissy Namujju, as Lwengo Woman Member of Parliament, saying that Namujju was properly declared the winner of the election for Lwengo District Woman Member of Parliament.
The court ruled that Nkonge failed to adduce evidence to show that Namujju was declared a winner in only 150polling stations out of the 375 polling stations that make up the constituency.
“The petitioner relies solely on the evidence of Kiberu deus and did not adduce any other evidence to support the testimony of Kiberu that the returning officer declared Namujju after tallying results from 150 polling stations out of 375 polling stations, the petitioner did not attach any of her DR forms to her petition to aid court verify that assertion, I find that the petitioner has not adduced evidence to the satisfaction of court that Kiberu was his official agent at the tally center and witnessed among others that Namujju was declared a winner on results from only 150 out of 375 polling stations in the district.” she ruled.
However, Justice Kania ruled that although the Returning Officer left out 3 polling stations with 920 voters, which was non-compliance with the electoral laws, it did not substantially affect the result of the election.
“I find that the failure to tally votes from 3 polling stations did not affect the results of the election in a substantial manner,” she added.
The ruling stated that even if all 920 had voted for the petitioner, Namujju would still lead by 3,885 votes there by court not being convinced to overturn her victory as Nkonge had asked court.
The court also ruled that the petitioner failed to serve Namujju with the petition as required by law.
“Having found that Nkonge did not serve as stipulated by the law and the petitioner did not seek for enlargement of time as provided by the law and the court did not find any special circumstance to warrant the exercise of its discretion to enlarge time, discussing this issue is of no consequence and is therefore a moot point,” she added.
During the last court sitting in October, appearing before Justice Rosset Comfort Kania via Zoom, Namujju Cissy had told court that she was never served as Nkonge claimed.
“Having found that the first respondent, Namujju, was properly declared a winner for the position of Woman Member of Parliament for Lwengo District. I don’t find any merit in the petition and hereby dismiss it” she ruled.
She, however, declined to grant costs, saying that it may deter other people in the future who would wish to challenge election results. Ordering that each party should bear its costs.
The respondents’ lawyers, led by Geoffrey Kandebe and Haruna SSewaya said that they are happy that the court agreed with them that the EC did not declare Namujju on the results of 150 polling stations, as Nkonge claimed, adding that the petitioner did not serve Namujju in time, which was against the electoral laws.
“We want to congratulate the people of Lwengo and Namujju for the court decision that upheld the victory of the woman Member of Parliament for the district; the leader should now concentrate on serving the electorate since the court battle has been settled,” Ssewaya added.
Nkonge wanted the court to nullify the victory of Cissy Namujju, claiming that she bribed voters during the elections and that she was declared a winner on results from only 150 polling stations out of 375 polling stations in the district.
Faisal Balikurungi, the petitioner’s lawyer, when contacted for a comment, said they were still studying the judgment before they think of the next step they can take.
According to the electoral commission, in the Namujju Cissy election, NRM polled 34021, Independent Sarah Muwonge Nkonge got 29216, NUP Christine Namuyanja got 18131 and another independent candidate, Elizabeth Makuza, got 1183 votes.