The Masaka High Court has upheld the election of Yusufu Kiruluuta Nkeretanyi of the National Unity Platform-NUP as the Member of Parliament for Kalungu East Constituency.
The decision to uphold the poll results follows the dismissal of an application by former Defence Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, the National Resistance Movement-NRM candidate, who was seeking an extension of time to formally file an election petition challenging Nkeretanyi’s victory.
Justice Joyce Kavuma has dismissed the application in a ruling delivered by Masaka High Court Deputy Registrar Roy Karungi. The court ruled that Ssempijja failed to provide sufficient grounds to justify the preferred extension of the statutory period for filing the petition.
In his supporting affidavits, Ssempijja argued that he needed more time to gather evidence which he said would demonstrate irregularities that affected the credibility of the Kalungu East parliamentary election. Ssempijja had earlier sought a recount of the votes before the Masaka Chief Magistrate’s Court, but the application was unsuccessful after the court found that two ballot boxes had been tampered with.
The Magistrate subsequently advised him to seek remedy in the High Court by filing an election petition. However, Ssempijja filed the petition on April 2nd, one day after the statutory 30-day period following gazetting of the election results had expired.
Despite his plea for the court to enlarge the filing period, Justice Kavuma ruled that in the circumstances, she lacked jurisdiction to extend the statutory deadline. The court ruled that in any case, granting such an application would lead to future abuse of court processes and timelines.
The court has consequently dismissed the election petition, leaving Nkeretanyi’s election as Kalungu East Member of Parliament intact. Upon receiving the ruling, Nkeretanyi noted he is relieved by the court ruling and can now serve his constituency without interruption.
He denies participating in any irregularities that allegedly affected the credibility of the election in which he was declared the winner, arguing that the purported evidence was manufactured. The Electoral Commission declared Nkeretanyi the winner with 15,473 votes, defeating Ssempijja, who polled 13,219 votes-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
