Lubyayi contends that the tribunal relied on doctored results from nonexistent villages to overturn his victory, adding that he was never given a fair hearing before the decision was taken.
Bukomansimbi District National Resistance Movement-NRM Party
registrar, Pere Ssemanda, the has disowned the primary election results for the
Bukomansimbi North constituency parliamentary candidates.
Ssemanda who oversaw
the party primaries on September 4th, 2020 has sworn an affidavit
distancing himself from the NRM Elections Dispute Tribunal, which overturned
the results from Bukomansimbi North county primaries.
On October 2nd, 2020, the tribunal overturned the
election of Haji Iddi Lubyayi Kisiki as the NRM Bukomansimbi North county
parliamentary candidate and handed then flag to Ruth Katushabe. In its ruling,
the tribunal said it had discovered a mismatch in the tallying of results that gave
Lubyayi 8,130 votes against Katushabe’s 6,167 votes.
Discontented with the tribunal decision, Lubyayi petitioned Masaka High court
seeking to block NRM party from handing the flag to Katushabe for nomination
ahead of the 2021 general elections. Lubyayi contends that the tribunal
relied on doctored results from nonexistent villages to overturn his victory,
adding that he was never given a fair hearing before the decision was taken.
On Tuesday, Lubyayi through his lawyer, Samuel Sserwanga presented
before Masaka High Court presided over by Justice Victoria Nakintu Katamba
affidavits sworn by Bukomansimbi district NRM Registrar and Administrative
Secretary disowning results from the contested villages.
According to Ssemanda, the villages of Kitemi, Kijulujulu, Nabigobe, Namaliga,
Lugundo, Nnyanga, Mpaama, Katusabe, Kyakaayu and Kipeyu, whose results the
respondent claims that were tallied after elections are not part of
Bukomansimbi North Constituency and cannot be located anywhere in their
records.
He also notes that the contested villages only reflect results for
Bukomansimbi North constituency but don’t feature in the Woman MP and local
government primary elections. Court also heard from the Bukomansimbi NRM Chairperson,
Shafick Mwanje and his vice-chairperson, Harriet Nakalema, who also testified
against Katushabe, whom they accused of misleading the party tribunal into
making an erroneous decision.
Lubyayi wants court to quash the tribunal
decision and declare him the winner of the primaries to pave way for his
nomination. Katushabe asked court through her lawyer, Godfrey Kandeebe to allow them time to
respond to the affidavits and prove their case on the irregularities that
played out during the tallying of the results.
She insisted that they have evidence on the existence of the
said villages, arguing that the applicant based his petition on mere spelling
errors. Court instructed Katushabe’s team to file written submission before
close of business on Wednesday to allow it to deliver a ruling on the matter before
the parliamentary candidate’s nomination slated for Thursday and Friday this
week.
