The High Court in Jinja has dismissed the electoral petition in which the election of Kagoma Member of Parliament Moses Walyomu Muwanika was being challenged.
The presiding judge Godfrey Namundi in his Friday ruling told a fully parked court that the petitioner failed to adduce enough evidence upon which the results of the elections would be over turned there by ordering the petitioner to incur costs by the first respondent (the Electoral Commission).
Through lawyers Julius Galisonga and Alex Luganda; Alex Brandon Kintu had cited electoral malpractices to challenge his rival’s election.
In the application, Kintu said Walyomu dished out bribes disguised as contributions for fundraising activities which is prohibited by law.
He further accused Walyomu of harassment and intimidation of voters including chasing some voters from polling stations and selective recruitment of polling officials with intentions of messing up the exercise in favor of the NRM flag-bearer.
In his ruling however, the judge said some evidence in the petition lacked affidavits. Other affidavits were added later after filing the petition.
“There was no any case of underage voting and multiple age voting to justify the claim of ineligible people voting and therefore even if there were some cases of malpractice, they had no substantial effect on the outcome of the election,” ruled the Judge before dismissing the case with costs to the petitioner.
Evans Ochieng, the lawyer who represented Walyomu, said the petition lacked content.
However, the petitioner has already instructed his lawyers to file an appeal, saying judge could have been influenced in his judgment.
“We shall not relent because we’re raising the voice of the voiceless and fighting impunity in elections,” said Kintu.
Moses Walyomu Muwanika was declared winner of February parliamentary election for Kagoma County with 16,391 votes; followed by Kintu who garnered 14,244.
FDC’s Timothy Batuwa Lusala, who came third in the election, was a witness to Kintu.
Walyomu first trounced Kintu in the NRM primaries but the latter chose to stand as independent only to lose again.