Court kicks Soroti MP Okia out of Parliament
Mr Moses Okia Attan speaks to the media at Parliament on May 20, 2021.PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- In their unanimous ruling, three justices led by Cheborion Barishaki nullified the election of Okia’s victory on grounds that it was illegal for the Electoral Commission (EC) to reconstitute the boundaries of Soroti City East Constituency by removing the parishes of Aloet and Opilyai and placing them under Soroti City West Constituency.
The Court of Appeal yesterday annulled the election of Mr Moses Okia Attan and ordered for fresh election for the directly-elected MP for Soroti City East Constituency.
In their unanimous ruling, three justices led by Cheborion Barishaki nullified the election of Okia’s victory on grounds that it was illegal for the Electoral Commission (EC) to reconstitute the boundaries of Soroti City East Constituency by removing the parishes of Aloet and Opilyai and placing them under Soroti City West Constituency.
Other justices included Stephen Musota and Christopher Gashirabake.
“EC had no powers to distort the composition of the Soroti City East Constituency by removing the parishes of Aloet and Opilyai, which had 1,337 voters and 3,896 voters respectively and placing them where the said voters did not belong,” the justices ruled.
The trio justices said they had no reason to fault the earlier decision of the High Court in Soroti that had also annulled Okia’s victory.
MP Okia’s victory had been challenged by his political rival, Mr Herbert Edmund Ariko, who stated that there were election malpractices and voter disenfranchisement.
Meanwhile, the same court upheld the election of Security minister Jimmy Muhwezi as the Rujumbura County MP.
This was after dismissing the appeal petition by Mr Muhairwe Turyamuhweza in which he had claimed voter bribery.
The three justices unanimously agreed to dismiss the appeal on grounds that Mr Turyamuhweza did not adduce evidence before court that the minister or with his knowledge, offered bribes to voters.
Maj Gen Muhwezi, who campaigned on the National Resistance Movement ticket, had in last year’s polls obtained 23,990 votes against Forum for Democratic Change’s Turyamuhweza’s 20,556 votes.
Mr Turyamuhweza, being dissatisfied with the results, petitioned the High Court in Kabale that ruled in favour of the minister. He went on to appeal to the Court of Appeal that upheld the Kabale High Court ruling.
