Court upholds EC’s disqualification of Iganga female youth councillor aspirant

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Zula Babirye’s bid to contest for the female youth councillor position in Iganga Municipality has been brought to an end after the High Court upheld her disqualification by the Electoral Commission (EC).

The court ruled that Babirye did not meet the required age qualification for a youth councillor at the time of her nomination.

In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, January 6, High Court judge Joyce Kavuma said Babirye failed to prove to the satisfaction of the court that she had lawfully changed her date of birth before nomination.

“As a result, this petition fails and is hereby dismissed with each party to bear their own costs due to the great importance of electoral matters and not to unjustifiably deter aggrieved parties with a cause from seeking court redress,” ruled Justice Kavuma.

Genesis of the case

Following Babirye’s nomination, her rival, Anisha Wachembe, lodged a complaint with the EC, arguing that Babirye lacked the requisite age qualification for the youth councillor position at the time of nomination.

Wachembe cited Babirye’s national identity card, which indicates that she was born on December 25, 1991, arguing that this placed her outside the legally prescribed youth age bracket of 30 years.

Babirye, however, relied on a confirmation of information in the register letter dated July 30 last year from the executive director of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA), Rosemary Kisembo, which indicated that she was born on December 12, 1998. She argued that her national identity card was issued with an erroneous year of birth and that she had made a statutory declaration to that effect.

Unsatisfied with her explanation, the EC disqualified her from the race, prompting Babirye to petition the High Court for redress.

In upholding the EC’s decision, Justice Kavuma ruled that the year of birth on Babirye’s national identity card rendered her ineligible to contest for the position at the time of nomination.

Regarding the statutory declaration, the judge said it was insufficient to effect a lawful change of date of birth.

“For this court to accept the statutory declaration alone as determinative would invite abuse of the National Registration System and would fall far short of the evidentiary threshold required by the NIRA and the Regulation thereunder for such a fundamental alteration of personal data,” Justice Kavuma ruled.

The court further faulted Babirye for taking more than seven years to rectify the erroneous particulars on her national identity card.

“Accordingly, the petitioner’s disqualification on October 30 last year was neither ultra-vires nor arbitrary but rather constituted a rational, lawful, and proportionate exercise of the Commission’s constitutional duty to ensure strict compliance with statutory age requirements and to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process,” Justice Kavuma ruled.

Section 9(3) of the National Youth Act limits eligibility for youth elections to persons aged between 18 and 30 years.