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Court starts to hear 25 stale election cases
What you need to know:
- Some petitions were filed in 2015 and many of them have been overtaken by events since the leaders whose election the petitions sought to overturn have already served out their office terms or the actions that were being challenged have ceased to exist.
The Court of Appeal has begun hearing 25 election-related petitions that are more than five years old.
Some petitions were filed in 2015 and many of them have been overtaken by events since the leaders whose election the petitions sought to overturn have already served out their office terms or the actions that were being challenged have ceased to exist.
It means their disposal would be more of legal significance but with little or no political value.
The court registrar, Ms Mary Babirye, said the listing of the time-barred petitions for the hearing is aimed at reducing the case backlog in the court system.
Notable among the petitions is by the Unwanted Witness Uganda which is challenging the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)’s decision to shut down social media during the 2016 General Election.
Government shut down the Internet ahead of the 2016 presidential polls on account that it fueled violence by spreading misinformation.
The petitioners contend that the shutdown offended the right to freedom of expression.
Other petitions include the case by Fox Odoi, who contends that regulation 20 (21) on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) primary elections is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, and Democratic Party (DP) president Norbert Mao suing Electoral Commission for allegedly refusing to nominate him as parliamentary candidate.
The EC had argued that Mr Mao presented himself for nomination for Gulu Municipality MP but the returning officer could not nominate him because his name was not on the National Voters Register, which is a requirement for nomination under Section 4 (1) (b) of the Parliamentary Elections Act of 2005.
The aforementioned election-related petitions will be heard in the next two weeks.
The justices to hear the appeals are: Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, Justice Kenneth Kakuru, Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, Justice Christopher Madrama and Justice Irene Mulyagonja.
Other cases
The Court of Appeal, which also sits as the Constitutional Court, when handling constitutional matters is expected to hear an appeal in which Democratic Republic of Congo government is seeking a declaration that the various orders made by the High Court which led to attachment and sale of the premises of its predecessor --Zaire government-- in Kololo and Mbuya in Kampala violated the Foreign Policy objectives outlined in the Constitution.
