The vice president caused a stare in Masaka High court this morning, when he stormed out of court minutes after Justice Elizabeth Musoke ordered his armed guards to surrender their guns to the court security or leave the court room.
This morning, Edward Ssekandi appeared in Masaka High Court amidst tight security to defend himself against accusations of electoral fraud by his rival Jude Mbabali. Minutes after Justice Musoke entered the court room, Chrisestom Katumba, the lawyer for Mbabali asked her to disarm Ssekandi’s body guards.
Katumba pointed out Ssekandi’s body guards including one only identified by his name tag as Walinga and Musa Bwambale. Justice Musoke concurred with Katumba and ordered the guards to surrender their guns to police or leave the court saying no weapon is allowed inside the court room.
All the guards stormed out of the court room except Walinga, who handed over his pistol to a plain clothed police detective. Minutes after, Ssekandi stormed out of the court room and went to his car that was packed outside the high court. Justice Elizabeth Musoke looked on as Ssekandi walked out of the court room.
Some of his bodyguards, who looked clueless, remained seated in the courtroom hoping that their boss was going to return in vain. The guards were called from the court room a few minutes later by their colleague to join the VP in his car and drove off. Efforts by Uganda Radio Network to get an explanation from Ssekandi about his action hit a snag as his body guards stopped journalists from approaching his vehicle.
Ssekandi’s sudden walk out of the court left many people included his supporters speechless. Tessi Lwasa, the former campaign manager of Ssekandi told URN outside court that he could not explain what was happening to his boss. But another supporter Paul Migadde, suspects that the VP could have left court to attend to an emergency.
Jude Mbabaali, Ssekandi’s rival says that he will seek an explanation from Ssempebwa Kiryowa, the lawyer of the VP because he was due for cross examination when he stormed out of the court room. By press time, Katumba, the lawyer for Mbabaali was still cross examining Ali Musa; the Masaka assistant district returning officer.
