The Court of Appeal will deliver its judgment on notice in the case in which, four people are challenging the procedure leading to the election of Uganda’s representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly on September 29th, 2022. The three-member panel comprising Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, Catherine Bamugemereire, and Monica Mugenyi revealed this Monday when the matter came up.
The petitioners including Gilbert Agaba, Josephine Lolem, Salaama Adelaide Nakitende, and Lauben Bwengye argue that the election of the nine legislators to the Arusha-based Parliament was held in a manner that contravenes the provisions of the East African Legislative -EAC Treaty, the Constitution of Uganda and the EALA elections act as it was marred with several irregularities including electoral fraud and violence among others.
But Gerald Blacks Siranda, one of the eventual winners told Uganda Radio Network that It’s wrong for the petitioners to sit back and think that they were illegally elected to EALA. He says that they are busy negotiating and lobbying for Uganda to host the East African Currency Centre and they have just passed the East African Free Trade Zone and legislated the tracking system of goods to save time on clearances.
But the “busybodies” want to keep engaged in legal battles. He, however, said that he believes that the Court of Appeal will uphold his victory as well as that of his counterparts. The other EALA representatives are Paul Mwasa Musamali, Veronica Babirye, Denis Namara, George Stephen Odongo, Mary Mugyenyi Mutamwebwa, Jacqueline Amongin, and Rose Okullu. These were sued alongside the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, and Clerk to Parliament, Adolf Mwesige in the High Court where the case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.