UGANDA: Court of Appeal clears former minister Tim Lwanga

By Ephraim Kasozi, Juliet Kigongo

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an petition that challenged the election of former Ethics Minister, Mr Tim Lwanga as Member of Parliament for Kyamuswa County, Kalangala District.

The court upheld Mr Lwanga’s election saying there was no evidence presented by his political rival, Mr Moses Kabuusu, who had claimed that the electoral process was flawed.

A panel of three judges including; Justice Constance Byamugisha, Justice Augustine Nshimye and Justice Remy Kasule, Friday concurred with the High Court judgment to dismiss Mr Kabuusu’s petition that he was trounced during the February 2011 elections due to voter bribery, intimidation and electoral malpractices.

On November 14, 2011, Masaka High Court Judge, Justice Owiny Dollo, who threw out Mr Kabuusu’s petition citing lack of sufficient evidence on most of the allegations.

Mr Kabuusu had appealed against Justice Dollo’s decision saying he had reached a wrong conclusion after failing to properly evaluate the evidence brought before him.

The former MP had sued claiming that there were incidences of voter bribery using food, life jackets, campaign T-Shirts and money.

Mr Kabuusu alleged that Mr Lwanga uttered false and malicious statements against him during the campaigns.

The petitioner also accused the Electoral Commission of non-compliance with the law, arguing that this led to disenfranchisement of some voters and ballot stuffing.

He alleged that Mr Lwanga did not resign his government job as a board member of both the Broadcasting Council and the Uganda Communications Commission, 90 days before being nominated.

The Judges who ordered Mr Kabuusu to foot costs incurred by his rival in both courts maintained that they saw no justification to depart from the reasoning of Justice Dollo as there was no evidence to support the appeal.

The panel held that Mr Kabuusu failed to provide a recording of the alleged utterances for court to determine their substance. They also observed that Mr Lwanga was not a paid employee of the two communications bodies.

Source: Daily Monitor (19/11/2012): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Court-of-Appeal-clears-former-minister-Tim-Lwanga/-/688334/1624154/-/fbouccz/-/index.html