Busia LC5 by-election halted

Deputy Chief Justice Stephen Kavuma has ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) not to organize LC5 by elections in Busia district until the disposal of the substantive application. 

Kavuma also directed the registrar of the same court to expedite the fix the main the main application for immediate hearing. 

"The cost of this application abide by the outcome of the substantive application I so order," said Kavuma. 

According to Jude Byamukama the counsel for embattled Busia district chairperson Ouma Adea, said they had applied for an applied order for Adea to be reinstated in office pending the appeal. 

He said Kavuma did not explain why he did not make that order, but pointed out that an interim chairperson was acting district chairperson in 2016. 

"We raised this issue before him but he somehow left it undecided," Byamukama said. 

A section of Busia district councillors petitioned court two weeks ago expressing fears that the district was in a crisis due to lack of a substantive district chairperson and executive committee. 

The twenty four councillors who appended signatures on the petition asked the Court of Appeal to expedite disposing of an appeal filed by Adea after being thrown out of office by the High Court in Mbale on grounds of being ineligible to contest for the 2016 election, to pave way for a by election. 

The councillors noted that lack of substantive district political leadership would likely drag the district in unavoidable consequences created by the leadership gaps.