EC refutes conspiracy in SDP name change

Feb 17, 2015

The Electoral Commission refutes claims of conspiracy in the purported illegal change in the name of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).


By Andante Okanya

KAMPALA - The Electoral Commission (EC) has refuted claims of conspiracy in the purported illegal change in the name of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to Party of National Unity (PNU).

THE EC's rebuttal is contained in its 'answer to petition', filed at the civil division of the High Court in Kampala. It was filed by lawyer Ahmed Lugolobi of the EC legal department.

The refutation is in response to a petition filed last year on October 15 by a group of four aggrieved SDP members, namely; Asea Azuma, Fred Kavuma, Ahmed Sserunjogi and Harriet Namujju.

The aggrieved purport that the party’s top leadership of Michael Mabikke and Henry Lubowa changed the party name without approval of party members.

The Electoral Commission, listed as a co-respondent with the duo (Mabikke and Lubowa), is accused of failing to verify whether the name change had been endorsed and approved.

But the EC's senior legal officer Jude Mwassa has sworn an affidavit, dismissing the petition as a futile venture that is a waste court's time.

He states that the election body received a notification and resolution for alteration of the party name, to which it acted upon as directed under the law.

"I know that the third respondent in effecting the changes submitted to it. It complied with the provisions of the Political Parties and Organisations Act," Mwassa asserts.

The petitioners insist that at the party's national council meeting held on September 11, 2013, the only item on the agenda was whether SDP should form a political alliance with another political party.

The meeting was purportedly held at the Youth Sharing Hall in Nsambya. They claim that although the push for an alliance was disallowed, Mabikke and Lubowa acted contrary.

The aggrieved contend that the two party leaders acted clandestinely to fulfill their selfish aspirations.

They want court to compel the EC to strike out the name PNU and revert to the approved name of SDP.

Additionally, the petitioners are demanding to be paid damages, arguing that they failed to follow both the national constitution and SDP constitution.

But the EC says they do not deserve any reliefs, and has asked court to dismiss the petition on grounds that it is "devoid of any merit, vexatious and frivolous".

 The case file has been allocated to Justice Benjamin Kabiito.
 

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