Presidential election petition hearing starts Monday
Mar 10, 2016
Deputy Attorney general Mwesigwa Rukutana asked the court to take judicial notice of false allegations by the petitioners’ lawyers that their witnesses had been arrested by security agencies and detained at Kireka
The Supreme Court has set Monday March 14 on which to start hearing the petition in which former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi is challenging the validity of the election of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in the recently concluded presidential election.
Some of the lawyers in the courtroom waiting for the preliminary hearing of the election petition by Amama Mbabazi before the justices of the Supreme Court on 10th Mar 2016. Photo by Nicholas Oneal
The court directed all the parties to file their documents pertaining to the petition by close of Sunday March 13. It also gave two days within which the lawyers representing the petitioner should submit and conclude their case. It gave the respondents three days within which they should reply the petition.
The panel of judges during the preliminary hearing for the election petition by Amama Mbabazi before in the Supreme Court on 10th Mar 2016.
The directives, pronounced by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe, who chaired the panel of nine justices followed the pre-hearing session in which the parties agreed on a number of issues and facts of the petition that took them an hour granted by the court for them to consult before they presented them to the court for endorsement.
Amama Mbabazi's lawyer Severino Twinobusingye chats with Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana in the courtroom waiting for the preliminary hearing of the election petition by Amama Mbabazi before the justices of the Supreme Court on 10th Mar 2016.Earlier the lawyers were entwined in protracted arguments emanating from the concern raised by the Deputy Attorney general Mwesigwa Rukutana who had asked the court to take judicial notice of what he termed false allegations by the petitioners’ lawyers that their witnesses had been arrested by security agencies and detained at Kireka.
Rukutana also asserted that they doubted whether they were not stage-managed claims by the petitioner’s lawyers that thugs had broken into the chambers of the law firms of Nyanzi, Kiboneka and Mbabazi and those of Fred Muwema in the night of Wednesday, saying that it was done purposely to delay the case.
Amama Mbabazi's lawyers, Asuman Basalirwa, Severino Twinobusingye chat with Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana in the courtroom waiting for the preliminary hearing of the election petition by Amama Mbabazi before the justices of the Supreme Court on 10th Mar 2016.
Enos Tumusiime, who led the lawyers representing the Independent Electoral Commission (EC) and Didas Nkurunziza who led those representing the Attorney General concurred with Rukutana saying that the petitioner and his lawyers were discourteous.
Attorney General Fredrick Ruhindi arrives for the preliminary hearing of the election petition by Amama Mbabazi before the justices of the Supreme Court on 10th Mar 2016.
Replying to the assertions by Rukutana, the petitioner’s lawyers vehemently denied that they were discourteous and they described the Deputy Attorney General statements as unfortunate.
President Museveni's lawyer Kiwanuka Kiryowa chats with Amama Mbabazi's Lawyer Asuman Basalirwa on arrival for the preliminary hearing of the election petition by Amama Mbabazi before the justices of the Supreme Court on 10th Mar 2016.
However, the Chief Justice Katureebe said that the court had noted everything, but regretted that they had been diverted from the important thing of hearing the petition into other things. But, he said that if anyone is arrested, the security agencies should investigate the matter immediately.
The other members of the coram are Justices Jotham Tumwesigye, Dr Esther Kisaakye Kitimbo, Stella Arach-Amoko, Augustine Sebutulo Nshimye, Eldad Mwangusya, Rubby Aweri Opio, Prof Lillian Tibatemwa Ekirikubinza and Faith Mwondah.