Muyizzi thus asked for stay of proceedings pending the decision and or the guidance of Court of Appeal so that the intended appeal against the ruling is not rendered nugatory and that they would suffer irreparable damages if not granted leave to appeal.
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Kawempe North MP Nalukoola Luyimbazi in Court.
Kawempe North MP Nalukoola Luyimbazi has asked the High Court in Kampala to halt the hearing of an election petition filed against him by his rival, Faridah Nambi Kigongo.
Nalukoola, through his lawyers led by Samuel Muyizzi Mulindwa, on Friday, asked the Court presided over by Justice Benard Namanya to stop hearing the petition and then allow them leave to go to the Court of Appeal and file an application challenging the Judge's decision.
The decision they intend to challenge was given this afternoon by the judge in which he limited or restricted Nalukoola to cross examining only 10 out of 34 witnesses of Nambi.
Nalukoola through his lawyers had wanted to cross examine all the witnesses in this case. But the Judge in this case declined and allowed them to cross examine only ten people and went ahead to choose for Nalukoola who exactly he should cross examine.
The Judge mentioned the names for those to be cross examined. The Same Court also allowed Nambi to cross examine only six people from Nalukoola's team, him(Nalukoola inclusive).
However, Nalukoola's lawyers led Muyizzi says this is dangerous because it means the witnesses whom they haven't been allowed to cross examine will have their evidence admitted on record yet, some of those people didn't exit and had no Identification cards and went on to tell Court lies that Nalukoola had participated in electoral offenses like bribery and campaigning on voting day.
Although Nambi's lawyers also wanted to cross-examine two Returning Officers of the Electoral Commission, the Court has not found it necessary to summon the officers given that pleadings were already closed in this case and Nambi hadn't included them(officers) in her petition by the time she came to Court.
Nalukoola's lawyer, Muyizzi, made a verbal request seeking leave to appeal against the ruling that it's unfair and breaches section 63 sub section 4 of the Parliamentary elections Act because it is against the principle laid therein of an inquiry that requires serious judicial inquiry.
Muyizzi asked for a stay of proceedings pending the decision and or the guidance of the Court of Appeal so that the intended appeal against the ruling is not rendered nugatory and that they would suffer irreparable damages if not granted leave to appeal.
Electoral Commission Lawyer Eric Sabiiti advised that the right to leave to cross-examine witnesses is not automatic. Sabiiti contends that matters of elections are supposed to be expedited and heard faster than any other cases. That doesn't mean that when you haven't been cross-examined, your right has been assaulted.
Without being seen as conflicted, Sabiiti told the Judge that the flamers of the law said that when there are issues, they get noted until the end of the main petition and that's when you can appeal at once against the entire decision.
Nalukoola's lawyers informed him (Sabiiti) that the Electoral Commission would be made a respondent in their intended appeal to the Court of Appeal. Before this, both EC and Nalukoola had been on the same side, being jointly accused of conspiring to rig Nambi of her victory.
But Kalule said the appeal by Nalukoola is misconceived and the stay shouldn't be granted.
Kalule said that you can't appeal against interlocutory decisions of High Court because the law says one can only appeal once the High Court has determined that so and so was validly elected as MP, but for now , there is no such a decision yet.
Accordingly, the Judge has fixed May 12th to decide on the application by Nalukoola.
On March 13th 2025, the Electoral Commission declared Nalukoola of the opposition National Unity Platform the winner of the March 13, 2025, elections with 17,939 votes, against the ruling NRM Candidate Nambi’s 9,058 votes.
Dissatisfied, Nambi petitioned the High Court seeking a fresh by-election, claiming the process was marred by electoral mal practices , offenses and other irregularities such as voter bribery which affected the final outcome of the elections.
Nambi who was the runner-up in the race gbag attracted ten Candidates alleged that Nalukoola bribed voters with cash, including 10,000 shillings to Kyemba Muwanguzi Nathan and 5,000 shillings to Mawumbe George William and Wamukubira Geoffrey among other people.
However, the Electoral Commission, through its litigation lawyer Eric Sabiti, denied the allegations, asserting that the election was conducted under the Constitution and electoral laws.
