Elias Lukwago, Kampala Lord Mayor has testified in the case in which Moses Kasibante, wants the victory of his rival Lubaga North Member of parliament Singh Katongole nullified. Kasibante contested against Katongole and was declared elected, but his victory was overturned after vote recount by Mengo chief magistrate Philip Odoki.
Yesterday, Lukwago told Justice Vincent Kibuuka Musoke that the court order allowing the vote recount was defective. According to Lukwago the court order was served to Kasibante at Lukwago’s home in Rubaga on Sunday. vHe said that the order was delivered by a non authorized person, because he was not a court advocate.
According to Lukwago this implies that until now Kasibante has not been served. He said that Singh was also expected to serve Electoral Commission, Moses Kasibante and also place the vote recount order announce on FM radio stations that he didn’t do. He explained that as a result, they applied for a court order to stay the vote recount, which was granted. The order was given to Singh to place announcements on FM stations, but instead it was the Kampala returning officer Molly Mutazindwa who placed the adverts in the newspapers.
Lukwago told court that on the day of the recount, when the ballot boxes were taken to the chief magistrates’ court he had witnessed a number of irregularities in their handling and others were clearly marked as ballots for Woman MP.
However, this didn’t go down well with Dr. James Akampumuza, the lawyer for Singh. Akampumuza asked Lukwago asked him if he has ever been convicted for contempt of court. Tendo Kabenge, Singh’s other lawyer asked Lukwago if he is still a member of the Democratic Party and if he knew that at the time he was MP and contested the Mayoral seat it was unconstitutional.
However, Justice Musoke objected to the questioning and asked the lawyers to stick to the matter before court. Musoke adjourned court to Thursday and Friday, when Lukwago will again take the stand for cross examination by the EC lawyers.
