Supreme Court under the Spotlight as Amama Mbabazi Challenges Museveni’s Poll Victory
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By Samuel Muwanguzi and Agencies
In Summary: This is the third time an election petition is lodged with the Supreme Court of Uganda challenging candidate Museveni’s victory. The first two, in 2001 and 2006 were filed by candidate Kizza Besigye. On both occasions, while the court acknowledged that irregularities marred the elections, they were not substantial enough to alter the outcome of the polls. Cognizant of, and careful not to violate a matter already before court, but also appreciative of the significance and passion associated with this election petition, the process of the trial that will climax in the much-anticipated verdict after 30 days, the supreme court has been placed under the spotlight whichever way it rules.
Dallas, Texas—Former presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi last Tuesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of President Yoweri Museveni's victory in the presidential elections held on February 18. Through his lawyers Fred Muwema, Severino Twinobusingye, and Michael Akampurira, Amama Mbabazi, in this presidential election petition No. 1 of 2016, seeks to cancel the election of President Museveni on several grounds, mainly on noncompliance to electoral laws by the Electoral Commission which failed to establish a tally center; announced results that had no basis; failed to keep electoral materials as people carried ballot papers on streets before the actual voting; voters disenfranchised; and presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement bribed voters by distributing hoes to some people in West Nile towards the end of the campaigns.
Through his lawyers, Amama Mbabazi’s petition seeks court to annul the election result, order a fresh election as all those “crimes committed and the noncompliance with the law substantially affected the results.” Following the filing of the petition, the registrar of the Supreme Court Tom Chemutai issued a statement setting Monday March 7 as the day when preliminary hearing of the election petition will start. The Registrar invited all concerned parties to attend the pre-hearing conference without fail.
The parties that have been invited include; the Directorate of Legal Service of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretariat representing candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General.
The other parties invited are the law firms representing the petitioner John Patrick Amama Mbabazi; Akampurira and Partners Advocates, Muwema and Company Advocates and Solicitors, and Twinobusingye Severino and Co Advocates.
A Pre-hearing conference is held to allow parties in a civil matter to meet selected Justices of the court to iron out administrative disputes and facilitate a smooth flow of the trial ahead of the actual hearing of the petition. While the registrar of the Supreme Court, Tom Chemutai did not provide names or the number of justices of the court to preside over the pre-hearing conference, it is widely expected that Chief Justice Bert Magunda Katureebe, 65, will be joined by the other eight Justices or at least six of them to constitute the bench to hear the actual petition scheduled to start next week. “The hearing of the petition is going to be a marathon including on weekends,” the Registrar of the Supreme Court, Fred Chemutai told journalists Tuesday.
This is the third time an election petition is lodged with the Supreme Court of Uganda challenging candidate Museveni’s victory. The first two, in 2001 and 2006 were filed by candidate Kizza Besigye. On both occasions, while the court acknowledged that irregularities marred the elections, they were not substantial enough to alter the outcome of the polls. Cognizant of, and careful not to violate a matter already before court, but appreciative of the significance and passion associated with this election petition, the process of the trial that will climax in the much-anticipated verdict after 30 days, the supreme court has been placed under the spotlight whichever way it rules. The Supreme Court of Uganda, the highest judicial organ of the land, derives its powers from Article 130 of the 1995 Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court with original jurisdiction in cases like Presidential election petitions.
The Supreme Court of Uganda is headed by the Chief Justice, Bert Magunda Katureebe, assisted by eight justices. A former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Attorney General, Chief Justice Katureebe was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court in 2005 and later named Chief Justice on March 5, 2015 to succeed the retired Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki. Justice Jotham Tumwesigye was appointed to the Supreme Court in July 2009 while the other seven Justices were appointed to the highest court of the land between 2009 and July last year. They include Justice Dr. Esther Mayambala Kisaakye, Justice Stella Arach-Amoko, Justice Augustine Nshimye, Justice Faith Mwondha, Justice Rubby Aweri Opio, Justice Eldad Mwangusya, and Justice Dr. Lillian Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza. For the first time in the history of the Supreme Court of Uganda, the ratio of men to women, (5 men to 4 women). Of the nine Justices, only the Chief Justice, Bert Katureebe, was part of the bench that presided over the petition by candidate Kizza Besigye challenging the election of candidate Yoweri Museveni in 2006.
All the nine Justices are men and women of high integrity and bring with them a diversity of experiences to the bench. Justice Jotham Tumwesigye and Faith Mwondha formerly served in the position of Inspector General of Government (IGG) and another 2, Justices Dr. Esther Mayambala Kisaakye and Dr. Lillian Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza were academics at Makerere University’s School of Law. While Justices Stella Arach-Amoko, Rubby Aweri Opio, and Eldad Mwangusya have spent most of their careers in the judiciary, Justice Augustine Nshimye was a Member of Parliament before he was appointed to the Constitutional Court and later to the Supreme Court last year. But given the significance and sensitivity of this suit, every word and action from the Supreme Court during and after the trial is going to come under close scrutiny thereby placing the court under the brightest spotlight. Those are the encumbrances that come with the territory.
Amama Mbabazi, placed third in the polls with less than 2 percent of the votes cast, was a former Prime Minister and confidant of President Museveni until 2014 when he was sacked and later contested against his former boss. He is suing candidate Museveni, the Electoral Commission (EC), and the Attorney General for failing to comply with the electoral laws during the polls. He contends, among other failures, that the Electoral Commission failed to deliver the electoral materials on the voting day in time; contrary to the electoral laws and that the EC chairman Dr. Badru Kiggundu read results without revealing the polling stations they were coming from.
Meanwhile, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) failed to petition the Supreme Court to challenge the poll results, citing interference by security on their presidential candidate Kizza Besigye, who came second in the February 18 poll with over 35 percent of the votes cast.
It was not immediately clear whether or not the party will join the petition by independent presidential candidate, John Patrick Amama Mbabazi. FDC president Gen. Mugisha Muntu told journalists at the party headquarters that during the last 11 days, Kizza Besigye had been arrested nine times, circumstances that did not leave him in the right mind to even engage with his lawyers to work on the election petition.