MP Ssekikubo loses court bid for denomination of Rwashande

SSEMBABULE - The incumbent Lwemiyaga county Member of Parliament in Ssembabule district, Theodore Ssekikubo, will battle with Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Rwashande in his bid to retain the seat that he has held for the last 25 years.

This is after the High Court in Kampala — which has the final say on pre-election matters — declined to enlarge time for Ssekikubo to appeal against the decision of the Electoral Commission (EC) which earlier dismissed his application for denomination of Rwashande on grounds of academic qualifications and lack of the requisite signatures for his nomination.  

Rwashande defeated Ssekikubo in the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party primaries and the latter has since been banking on the legal path to have his challenger denominated.

In a ruling delivered on Tuesday (January 6), High Court judge Joyce Kavuma said the court lacks jurisdiction to extend the time within which to lodge a petition in pre-election matters that has been filed out of time.

“The effect of filing the said petition out of the prescribed time is that the same ought to be struck out as this court lacks jurisdiction to extend time that has been set by a statute where the said statute does not provide power to the court to enlarge the same,” ruled Justice Kavuma.

The judge relied on rule 5 of the Parliamentary Elections (Interim Provisions) (Appeals to the High Court from Commission) rules that requires a petition to be filed within five days from the date of the decision of the Electoral Commission.

“In light of the above discussion, the petition filed by the applicant vide Electoral Petition Appeal No.0014 of 2025 is hereby struck out. The instant application MA-No.1124 of 2025 is totally without merit and it is accordingly dismissed."

Citing the decision in the case of Byakatonda versus Kamahingo and another, Election Petition Appeal No. 45 of 2025, Kavuma stated that the principle is that the court has no inherent or residual jurisdiction to enlarge time prescribed by statute in mandatory words unless or until the very statute gives the courts the power to enlarge the time.

In his affidavit, Ssekikubo stated that he filed the petition three days after he got to know of the ruling through social media.

However, the judge observed that his lawyers of M/s Alaka and Company Advocates received the ruling of the Electoral Commission on December 3 last year, the date on which the electoral body delivered its decision and this under the law is effective service.

The judge said this is the date on which the five days started counting and hence by the time Ssekikubo filed his petition was already outside the legal time frame.

Ssekikubo claimed that the ruling of the Electoral Commission was made known to him on December 8 last year and filed the petition on December 11 of the same month.

Ssekikubo’s allegations

In his petition to the High Court which has been struck out, Ssekikubo accused the Electoral Commission of abdicating its mandate when it upheld the nomination of Rwashande.

The MP claimed that only seven of the listed supporters that endorsed the nomination of Rwashande were registered voters in Lwemiyaga, rendering his nomination null and void.

Ssekikubo also wanted Rwashande denominated on grounds of lack of academic qualifications.

He argued that the academic qualifications relied on by Rwashande, especially the certificates he presented as an equivalent of the advanced level of education, does not comply with the law.

Ssekikubo cited alleged discrepancies in the names on Rwashande’s academic qualification presented for his nomination.

However, these allegations could not be investigated by the court because the petition has been struck out.

All hope, however, is not lost for Ssekikubo because if Rwashande wins the elections, Ssekikubo remains with an opportunity to file an election petition based on the same grounds although he can no longer challenge his nomination.