Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya is a happy man while his political rival Sulaiman Kidandala is in tears after the High Court in Kampala dismissed an election petition the latter filed.
Kidandala lost the January 2021 Kawempe North Parliamentary election to Ssegirinya.
Ssegirinya, the the official candidate for National Unity Platform (NUP) garnered 41,197 votes while Kidandala managed 7,512 votes.
But Kidandala challenged Ssegirinya’s election victory on grounds that ‘Mr Update’ lacked the requisite academic papers.
Ssegirinya insisted he had not been served by either Kidandala or his lawyers.
And lawyers from the Electoral Commission (EC) backed up the NUP candidate.
Ssegirinya was in detention following his arrest in a protest calling for the release of detained NUP supporters.
Today, Justice Henrietta Wolayo of the High Court sent joy in Ssegirinya’s camp and tears in Kidandala’s.
Deputy Registrar Agnes Alum read Justice Wolayo’s judgement.
She threw out Kidandala’s petition on grounds that Ssegirinya was never effectively served.
Wolayo ruled that Kidandala and his lawyers should have personally served Ssegirinya in prison.
“The OC of Kitalya prison had to endorse the petition to prove that he [Ssegirinya] had been served,” she said.
The petitioner’s lawyers say they served ‘Mr Update’ at the Central Police Station Kampala, at Kitalya and also pinned a notice on the High Court notice board.
In the end, Wolayo ruled that “there was ineffective service.”
“Having found the petition redundant and non-starter for lack of service, it is struck off the record,” she added.
