Nambi told Court that she doesn't know the voter turn up and that she was not in all the polling stations
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NRM's Faridah Nambi Kigongo in Court for cross Examination.
Faridah Nambi Kigongo, the runner-up in the Kawempe North by-elections, has been grilled over her allegations of voter disenfranchisement.
Nambi petitioned the court seeking to overturn the election of Elias Nalukoola Luyimbazi, the NUP candidate, who garnered 17,939 votes against Nambi's 9,058.
Hearing of the petition kicked off on Tuesday before the Civil Division Judge Bernard Namanya. It started with Nambi going before the witness stand, answering questions from Nalukoola's lawyers led by Muhammad Mbabazi.
Mbabazi tasked Nambi to prove how she arrived at a figure of 16,640 as the alleged disfranchised number of voters from the 14 polling stations whose results were not included in the final tally.
Justice Namanya had to grant Nambi a ten-minute break to enable her to get a calculator to compute the numbers. Nambi was also made to go through the results of every polling station to prove to the court that not even the results from the 14 polling stations would tally and account for the winning margin of 8,881 between her and the winner.
Nalukoola garnered 17,939 while Nambi polled 9,058 votes in the March 13th Kawempe by-election.
According to Mbabazi, Nambi can't have any magic to bridge the winning margin, and therefore, the non-conclusion of results from the 14 polling stations didn't affect the outcome of the election in any substantial manner to warrant a cancellation.
Having been dissatisfied with the result of the election, Nambi petitioned court to have the election cancelled because people from her strong hold areas were disfranchised by the Election Commission, which also she accuses of taking no action as Nalukoola committed several electoral offences including bribing of voters and campaining on the polling day.
Earlier, the hearing was over for ten minutes, halted for Nambi to get a calculator and show the court how the voters were disenfranchised at 14 polling stations, whose voters were reportedly never counted.
During the break, Nambi was helped by her lawyers, led by Ahmed Mukasa Kalule, who highlighted for her the figures to read before the Court. She then read from the documents given by his lawyers and mentioned the polling stations to make the 16,640 votes for those disenfranchised.
Nambi told the Court that she didn't know whether the voters turned up and that she was not in all the polling stations
During the cross-examination, Nambi further faced tough questions from Nalukoola's lawyers, including Remmy Bagyenda and Samuel Muyizzi Mulindwa, who seemed to be repeating the questions pressed her to prove that the 16,640 voters who were allegedly disfranchised would have voted for her.
Nambi insisted that the excluded votes would have bridged the gap between her and Nalukoola.
Nambi was also questioned about her claim that her agents didn't return results from some polling stations due to non-compliance and failure to follow electoral laws. She stated that this substantially affected the outcome.
The lawyers probed further, asking Nambi to confirm that her agents didn't participate in vote counting. Nambi replied that her agents didn't come to her with the results. They highlighted that Nambi's agents reported on other issues, such as chaos and violence, but not the lack of results.
Nambi was also asked about the specifics of the alleged chaos, including the time it started and the polling stations affected. She stated that her agents reported violence at the 14 polling stations, which prevented them from getting results.
When asked if she witnessed the chaos herself, Nambi confirmed that she didn't. The lawyers also asked Nambi to confirm her affiliation with the NRM, which she did, stating that she was the NRM candidate.
Nalukoola's lawyers sought to expunge evidence from affidavits whose deponents wouldn't be cross-examined, arguing that Nambi's evidence would be hearsay and inadmissible. The Judge reserved ruling on the matter, stating that it would be determined in the main cause.
Allegations of bribery haven't yet been touched by Nalukoola's lawyers. However, some of the questions asked of her so far indicate that she was told by some of her agents and voters regarding the accusations he levied against Nalukoola in her petition.
