A petition not to gazette Lwemiyaga County MP-elect Theodore Ssekikubo has been dismissed.
The Constitutional Court sitting in Kampala ruled that Ssekikubo’s petition challenging the decision of Masaka Chief Magistrate Samuel Munobe over his election case against rival Mr Patrick Nkalubo, be referred back to the lower court.
Last month Mr Nkalubo won a petition in the Masaka court seeking a vote recount of the parliamentary elections, prompting Ssekikubo to apply to the same court for permission to appeal the order in the higher court. However, instead of granting the ‘former rebel MP’ permission to appeal, the magistrate referred the matter to the Constitutional Court for interpretation.
And today Judge Richard Butera, on behalf of the panel of five judges, ruled in favour of Ssekikubo, arguing that the court’s mandate to interprete the matter in four days had elapsed.
During the parliamentary elections in February, Mr Ssekikubo, the NRM flag bearer, beat his long-time rival Nkalubo with a difference of 1,198 votes. And while declaring the results on February 19, Mr Latif Ngonzi, the district returning officer, indicated that Mr Ssekikubo attained his victory with 9,272 votes (52.77 per cent) against Independent candidate Patrick Nkalubo’s 8,074 votes (45.95 percent).
Other candidates were FDC’s Wilber Nahweera ,who scored 157 (0.29 percent) and Andrew Nankunda (Ind.) with 68 votes.
