Former National Unity Platform Presidential (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine has threatened to withdraw the presidential electoral petition if Supreme Court declines to receive pieces of evidence.
Earlier this month, Bobi Wine petitioned the Supreme Court challenging President Yoweri Museveni’s victory in the just concluded January general elections saying that the election was not free and fair. He contended that throughout the campaign period the People of Uganda generally, and more particularly his supporters endured untold suffering, torture, degrading and inhuman treatment on the orders of Gen Museveni. He cited the dark days of 18th and 19th November 2020 which saw over 50 innocent, unarmed citizens murdered in cold blood by the police and military.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined to receive over 200 pieces of evidence from his lawyers who were led by Anthony Wameli. The court registrar Ssali Harriet Lukwago said the Supreme Court could not receive the affidavits because they were filed beyond stipulated time as agreed during the pre-hearing session held on Thursday last week.
“The collection of evidence has been a hurdle, most of the witnesses were abducted, arrested and prosecuted in various courts of law and others are on run. So we could not beat time,” Bobi Wine said.
Last week as well, Supreme Court chaired by the chief Justice Alfonso Owiny-Dollo dismissed the MPs petition where he sought to adduce more grounds to support his 26 claims of election fraud, for which he wants president-elect Yoweri Kaguta Museveni annulled.
“We ran to court not because we trust judges, but we went to court because we trust the law. As you aware, Justice Mike Chibita who constitutes a panel of judges was a private secretary to president Museveni for seven years so we expect nothing from him but putting him to test,” he said earlier today.
He decried Chief justice’s behaviour of hosting president Museveni and asking him to implement a number of issues which includes increasing the number of judges and chief magistrates yet he constitutes a panel of judges who are scheduled to deliberate on the electoral petition challenging his victory.
“The chief magistrate was a minister in Museveni’s government, I doubt his credibility in the matter but we put him to the test. We shall withdraw our petition because they don’t want us to file evidence yet all petitions are based on evidence. We had few days to file the petition because I was under house arrest,” he said.
