A former National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate in the Kyotera District Woman Member of Parliament election has presented seven Declaration of Results forms to court, alleging discrepancies between the number of votes recorded for candidates and the number of ballots counted at some polling stations.
Scola Kalibbala is challenging the election of National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Fortunate Rose Nantongo, who was declared winner of the January 15 general election with 48,335 votes against Kalibbala’s 30,690.
Kalibbala has petitioned the Masaka High Court, alleging that the Electoral Commission failed to comply with electoral laws and that some election officials colluded with Nantongo’s agents to manipulate the results.
Testifying before Justice Rosette Comfort Kania on Thursday, Kalibbala said Declaration of Results forms from several polling stations were altered in favour of Nantongo. She also alleged that some presiding officers made arithmetic errors during the tallying process and that the errors were carried forward into the final results.
Kalibbala presented Declaration of Results forms from seven polling stations which, according to the evidence presented in court, show that the votes recorded for the candidates exceeded the number of ballot papers counted at the respective polling stations. She told court that she raised concerns about the results, but the Returning Officer did not examine the disputed forms.
Through her lawyer, Babu Ssali, Kalibbala is asking the court to nullify Nantongo’s election and order a fresh election, citing alleged non-compliance with electoral laws and irregularities by election officials and Nantongo’s agents. Speaking to journalists after Thursday’s hearing, Ssali said the alleged arithmetic errors were carried forward into the final tally sheet and affected Kalibbala’s results.
The Electoral Commission has denied colluding with Nantongo to manipulate the results. Through its lawyer, Haruna Ssewaya, the Commission argued that Kalibbala did not deploy agents to all polling stations and therefore could not have closely monitored the voting and tallying processes at every polling station.
Ssewaya also told the court that Kalibbala had failed to call witnesses to substantiate some of the allegations contained in her affidavits, arguing that this weakened the claims in the petition.
Nantongo, through her lawyers led by Caleb Alaka, also rejected the allegations, arguing that Kalibbala had not presented sufficient admissible evidence to prove that the election was conducted illegally or that the alleged irregularities affected the outcome.
Alaka accused Kalibbala of taking the matter on a “fishing expedition” in an attempt to obtain through court what she had failed to secure through the ballot.
The hearing has been adjourned to Friday, when the court is expected to hear evidence from additional defence witnesses. The court will ultimately have to determine whether the alleged irregularities occurred and, if proved, whether they were substantial enough to affect the validity of Nantongo’s election-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
