Ssekikuubo battles for his seat
Sep 16, 2009
Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikuubo is fighting for his seat in court after the Electoral Commission (EC) asked the Court of Appeal to declare him unfit for it.
By Anne Mugisa
Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikuubo is fighting for his seat in court after the Electoral Commission (EC) asked the Court of Appeal to declare him unfit for it.
The EC accuses Ssekikuubo of disrupting the 2006 youth elections. The commission also wants the court to order Ssekikuubo to refund the sh66.5m it says to have spent during the youth councillors’ elections.
Ssekikuubo, however, accuses the commission of witch-hunting him. He says the commission’s secretary, Sam Rwakoojo, has a vendetta against him because he ousted him from the constituency’s parliamentary seat in 2001.
“Rwakoojo was MP between 1996 and 2001. I contested against him and won in 2001. Then Rwakoojo did not take the defeat well and has been hostile since,†Ssekikuubo stated in an affidavit.
The EC’s appeal followed the dismissal by the High Court of its petition for Ssekikubo to refund the sh66m spent on organising the youth councillors’ elections.
Justice Musoke Kibuuka, who presided over the High Court case, said the EC lawyers failed to attach actual expenditure for the elections and only provided the whole budget for the district elections.
Ssekikuubo’s lawyer Wandera Ogalo said the sh66.5m was the total budget for the elections for the youth, women and people with disabilities in the district.
Ogalo said it was also meant to cater for 376 presiding officers, Police constables and polling assistants in the district.
Justice Stephen Kavuma, who presided over the case, said he would give the ruling on notice on Monday.
Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikuubo is fighting for his seat in court after the Electoral Commission (EC) asked the Court of Appeal to declare him unfit for it.
The EC accuses Ssekikuubo of disrupting the 2006 youth elections. The commission also wants the court to order Ssekikuubo to refund the sh66.5m it says to have spent during the youth councillors’ elections.
Ssekikuubo, however, accuses the commission of witch-hunting him. He says the commission’s secretary, Sam Rwakoojo, has a vendetta against him because he ousted him from the constituency’s parliamentary seat in 2001.
“Rwakoojo was MP between 1996 and 2001. I contested against him and won in 2001. Then Rwakoojo did not take the defeat well and has been hostile since,†Ssekikuubo stated in an affidavit.
The EC’s appeal followed the dismissal by the High Court of its petition for Ssekikubo to refund the sh66m spent on organising the youth councillors’ elections.
Justice Musoke Kibuuka, who presided over the High Court case, said the EC lawyers failed to attach actual expenditure for the elections and only provided the whole budget for the district elections.
Ssekikuubo’s lawyer Wandera Ogalo said the sh66.5m was the total budget for the elections for the youth, women and people with disabilities in the district.
Ogalo said it was also meant to cater for 376 presiding officers, Police constables and polling assistants in the district.
Justice Stephen Kavuma, who presided over the case, said he would give the ruling on notice on Monday.