High Court Judge Henrietta Wolayo has set 2nd September as the date for hearing of Election petition filed against Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya.
In March Sulaiman Kidandala petitioned the Court seeking to overturn Ssegirinya’s victory on grounds that he used forged academic papers for nomination and subsequent election as a member of parliament.
Ssegirinya defeated nine other candidates after he polled 41,197 votes against his closest challenger Kidandala who had 7,512 votes.
Appearing before court pre hearing session the MP and his lawyers did not turn up signaling that he was not served. Through his lawyers led by Kenneth Paul Kakande, Kidandala told Court that the MP was served but instead he chose not to attend.
Kakande said they found it hard to serve the MP and the first time they heard that he is detained at Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) but instead declined to take summons.
“We approached the Officer in charge (OC) of CPS and urged us to wait and serve him at Buganda Road Court where he was to appear before a magistrate over charges of inciting violence. Justice Emmanuel Baguma, the deputy head of the High court civil division, allowed us to serve him through the officer-in-charge of Kitalya prisons.” Kakande said
Kidandala wants the court to overturn his victory on grounds that he lacks the Ordinary and Advanced certificates and is, therefore, ineligible for election as MP. He contends that Ssegirinya used the academic documents of Nampiima Sarah for “O” Level and Nabadda Maureen for “A” level and wants the High court to order the Electoral Commission to organize fresh elections for Kawempe North.
He avers that Ssegirinya is not a registered voter anywhere in the country and he failed to obtain the names and signatures of a minimum of ten registered voters in Kawempe North to support his nomination.
Court has deferred the ruling for Kawempe North MP, Muhammad Ssegirinya’s case to 2nd September after the EC and Sulaiman Kidandala’s lawyers disagreed on whether Segirinya had been served or not.
