EC Appeals Court Ruling Against Six Mps In New Municipalities

The Electoral Commission (EC) has notified the Constitutional Court of its intention to appeal the ruling that overturned the election of Members of Parliament in the new municipalities.

The notice of appeal was filed on Monday, December 30 by the EC legal department.

“That the appellant being dissatisfied with the findings of Mr Alfonse Owiny Dollo, DCJ, Mr Kenneth Kakuru, Mr FMS Egonda Ntende, Cheborion Barishaki JA and Mr Christopher Madrama of the Constitutional Court on December 27th 2019 intends to appeal against their decision,”  the EC document reads.

Last Friday, the Constitutional Court in Kampala ordered six MPs to vacate Parliament on grounds that they were elected in constituencies that were non-existent.

The affected MPs are Mr Patrick Ochan (Apac, UPC party), Dr Elioda Tumwesigye (Sheema, NRM party), Mr Tarsis Rwaburindore (Ibanda, NRM party), Mr Hashim Sulaiman (Nebbi, NRM party), Mr Asuman Basalirwa (Bugiri, Jeema party) and Mr Abraham Lokii (Kotido, NRM party).

“In the premises, I would hold that elections conducted in the six affected municipalities mentioned in the judgment are not elections for an office of Member of Parliament existing under the Constitution because they are not general elections or by-elections. Secondly, the seats contested for did not have a vacancy and were already represented by elected MPs in the general elections of 2016,” held Justice Christopher Madrama who wrote the lead judgment.

The judgement stemmed from an application filed by the former Bufumbira East MP, Eddie Kwizera challenging the legality of a number of constituencies created after the 2016 general elections.

Kwizera argued that the six constituencies were illegally created by parliament and asked court to declare them null and void.