Masaka court orders for fresh elections in the entire Kalungu District

MASAKA

The Masaka High court judge has ordered for fresh elections in Kalungu District after nullifying the victory of the ruling National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) Richard Kyabaggu as the elected district chairperson.

Emanuel Musooke of the Democratic Party (DP) Former Kalungu District Chairperson dragged Kyabaggu and the Electoral Commission for irregularities in the elections where Kyabagu emerged victorious.

Masaka Chief Magistrate Samuel Munobe, while reading the judgment made by the Masaka High court justice Lawrence Gidudu, said that the first respondent, Kyabaggu, was fraudulently announced the winner of the Kalungu district chairperson seat since the electoral commission failed to honor the electoral laws.    

He said that the petitioner (Musooke) proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was robbed of his victory because the results were altered at the tally centre by the District Returning Officer, Jacqueline Mburamuhindo.

Court heard that Mburamuhindo declared Kyabaggu the winner of the race with 12,920 votes against Musooke’s 12581 which Musooke contested. He said that he had 12776 votes opposed to Kyabaggu’s 12565 votes.

Justice Gidudu ruled that the race was so tight that a mere alteration of results from the contested four polling stations of Yesu Akwagala, Bugomola trading center, Namasavu and Kalumaga -Kitawuluzi polling stations affected the entire poll results.

“The contested Declaration of form results(DR forms) were invented by the district registrar  purposely to alter results of the election because these DR  forms did not match with any of the 51 polling stations supplied by the electoral commission” he said.

He said the act by Mburamuhindo, not to read out the results loud at the district during the declaration of results and failure by her to avail Musooke with copies of certified copies of declarations of results forms was  against the electoral laws that call for transparency during a free and fair election.

“I cannot   announce you the duly elected district chairperson as you wanted, and still ordering for fresh elections at the small contested polling stations may not help because it may expose the polls to more massive irregularities  I therefore order for fresh elections in the entire district” he ruled.

However, Musooke who was fronted by his lawyer Samuel Muyizi told journalists that he was not happy with the ruling because he won the election saying that there was no need for ordering for fresh elections.

“I am not happy and am going to consult with my lawyers and see if we can make an appeal because this will financially constrain me again” he said.

Kyabaggu and EC were not in court and were not represented by their lawyers either while the ruling was made.