Kadaga Asks Court to Dismiss Musumba's Application for Substituted Service

Rebecca Kadaga, the speaker of parliament and Kamuli Woman Member of Parliament has asked Jinja high court to dismiss an application for substituted service by her rival, Salamu Musumba.

Substituted service in legal terms means that an applicant can serve an accused person by leaving the documents with a designated agent, adult in the recipient's home or place of work. Musumba is challenging Kadaga’s victory in the January 14th, 2021 parliamentary polls for alleged voter bribery and rigging.

On Wednesday, Musumba’s lawyer, John Isabirye informed the court presided over by the Jinja High Court Registrar, Fred Waninda that they have tried to serve Kadaga or her lawyers in vain, which prompted to file an application for substituted service. 

He told the court that Kadaga’s lawyers served him with the respondent’s affidavits in reply to the main petition at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, days after he filed the application. He prayed that the court adjourns the hearing for two days to enable him to peruse through the respondent’s claims. 

In his response, Kadaga’s lawyer, John Mary Mugisha denied being served by Salamu or her lawyers, which prompted their client to seek court redress after hearing about the petition for the media. He also told the court that Musumba’s application had been overtaken by events since they had already received the petition from the court and filed their reply accordingly.    

He said the application for substituted service didn’t carry any merit, arguing it would be a waste of the court’s time to hear such an application. Mugisha asked the court to dismiss the application with costs as they prepare for the hearing of the main election petition.    

Waninda adjourned court until April 21st, 2021 when he will deliver his ruling on the application. Meanwhile, Musumba told URN in an interview that she had written to the principal judge complaining about the conduct of judicial officers at Jinja high court whom she accuses of frustrating her efforts to get justice. 

She says that decision of the court officials to serve the respondent directly without her consent is prejudicial.     

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However, Kadaga’s lawyer, Emmanuel Opio, dismissed Musumba’s claim, saying that she lacks evidence to support her claims implicating their client for flouting court processes.