Museveni Ask Supreme Court to Dismiss Withdrawn Election Petition With Costs

Respondents in the presidential election petition filed by former presidential candidate Robert Kasibante have asked the Supreme Court to permit the withdrawal of the case but dismiss it with costs, arguing that the petition lacked merit and could not be successfully prosecuted.

In affidavits responding to Kasibante’s application to withdraw the petition, President Yoweri Museveni, the Electoral Commission, and the Attorney General stated that although they do not oppose the withdrawal, they maintain that the petition was legally weak, unsupported by evidence, and incapable of meeting the required standard of proof.

These developments followed a closed-door meeting last Friday between a panel of nine Supreme Court justices and lawyers for all parties. The meeting, chaired by Chief Justice Dr Flavian Zeija, replaced what had been scheduled as an open court session for the delivery of a ruling on Kasibante’s application for discovery.

Counsel for all parties had assembled in court, fully robed and ready for proceedings, when the Supreme Court Registrar announced that they were required to appear before the justices in chambers. After about 45 minutes, the lawyers emerged and left the court premises without any proceedings being conducted in open court.

The court subsequently directed the respondents to formally reply to Kasibante’s application filed on February 5, seeking permission to withdraw both Presidential Election Petition No. 1 of 2026 and his application for access to backend electoral data held by the Electoral Commission.

In his affidavit, Enoch Barata, Director of Legal Services of the National Resistance Movement and counsel for President Museveni, stated that the President had opposed both the petition and the discovery application and sought their dismissal. He asserted that the petition could not be successfully prosecuted or proved based on the pleadings and evidence before court.

Barata maintained that Museveni was validly elected in a free and fair election conducted in accordance with the law and that the declared results reflected the will of the Ugandan people. While not opposing the withdrawal, he asked that both the petition and the discovery application be withdrawn with costs awarded to the President.

He further emphasised that there was no agreement, undertaking, or settlement between Museveni and Kasibante regarding the withdrawal. Barata noted that under the law, once a presidential election petition is withdrawn, the candidate declared elected is conclusively deemed to have been validly elected.

The Electoral Commission adopted a similar position in an affidavit sworn by Stephen Tashobya of Mwesigwa Rukutana & Co. Advocates. Tashobya stated that the Commission had opposed both the petition and the discovery application, arguing that the remedies sought were onerous, logistically burdensome, and prohibitively expensive.