Sembabule Election Losers Seek Fresh Parliamentary Elections

Three former parliamentary contestants in Sembabule district want the High Court to order fresh elections in the area.

They are citing outright voter disenfranchisement and violence during the January 15th general polls.

The candidates are John Jet Tumwebaze, an independent candidate who lost the Mawogola North parliamentary race to NRM’s Godfrey Aine Kaguta alias Sodo,  Gorreth Namugga of the NUP, who lost the Mawogola County race to NRM’s Oswaldo Dezi Byuma, and Mary Begumisa, an independent candidate who lost the Sembabule District Woman MP race to NRM’s Florence Nambalira.

In their separate election petitions filed before the Masaka High Court, the three raise similar concerns about the integrity of the electoral process in Sembabule District. 

They are asking the court to order fresh parliamentary elections to allow voters to exercise their free will in choosing their leaders.

Appearing before Justice Thomas Ocaya Ojele for a pre-hearing and scheduling conference at the Masaka High Court on Tuesday, Tumwebaze argued that the elections were marred by various malpractices that compromised the integrity of the electoral process and the subsequent results. 

He accused the Electoral Commission of failing to contain the military and the alleged impunity of some candidates, who he said colluded to undermine the exercise through voter harassment, gun violence, ballot stuffing and falsification of results. 

Tumwebaze further argued that the election was deliberately skewed in favour of his opponent, Godfrey Aine Kaguta alias Sodo, whom he contends was not validly elected. 

Gorreth Namugga, who lost the Mawogola County MP race to Oswaldo Dezi Byuma, has attached more than 100 witness statements to her petition challenging the Electoral Commission’s declaration of the results.

In addition to her polling agents, whom she says were forced off polling stations in the morning hours.

Namugga intends to rely on evidence from several presiding officers who allegedly confirm that voting did not take place at several polling stations where they were deployed. 

She also contests the election returns and entries on declaration of results forms from more than 70 polling stations, which she says were written in the same handwriting, pointing to alleged forgery. 

Similarly, Mary Begumisa, the former Sembabule District Woman MP who lost to Florence Nambaiira, describes the January 15 polls as an operation targeting candidates who were not contesting on the NRM ticket. 

In her petition, Begumisa asks the court to find sufficient grounds to set aside the election results and order fresh and credible polls. 

However, Haruna Ssewaya, the lawyer representing the Electoral Commission in the petitions, has dismissed the allegations, arguing that the petitioners do not have sufficient evidence to substantiate their claims.

He said the Electoral Commission conducted the elections in accordance with the law and that this would be demonstrated during the full hearing of the main petitions. 

Godfrey Aine Kaguta alias Sodo, who was declared the winner of the Mawogola North parliamentary election, described the petition challenging his election as a waste of time, arguing that it cannot meet the legal threshold.

Meanwhile, the trial judge has directed lawyers for all parties to complete the filing of their preliminary objections ahead of the full hearing of the petitions scheduled for September 23.