Court of Appeal upholds Tebandeke’s victory

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Court of Appeal has upheld the victory of Charles Tebandeke as the Bbaale Constituency Member of Parliament in Kayunga district. A panel comprising of Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, Catherine Bamugemereire and Hellen Obura delivered the verdict on Monday following the withdrawal of an election appeal filed by Tebandeke’s rival Ronald Mukasa Maiteki.

Tebandeke emerged winner of the Bbaale county parliamentary seat during the January 14th 2021 elections with 12,753 votes against Mukasa’s 4,840 votes. Dissatisfied with the poll results, Mukasa petitioned Mukono High Court on grounds of vote-rigging and bribery allegedly committed by Tebandeke, which affected the final results in a substantial manner.

He asked court to overturn Tebandeke’s victory and order fresh polls. However, Lady Justice Olive Kazaarwe dismissed the application on grounds that the application had failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove his claims against Tebandeke and the Electoral Commission.

As a result, Mukasa through his lawyers filed an application before the appellant court that the Judge erred in law and fact when she failed to evaluate the evidence before the court record showing vote-rigging and alteration of declaration of result forms among others.

However, when the matter came up this morning, Mukasa’s lawyer Farouk Serunkuma informed court that his client was no longer interested in proceeding with the appeal, adding that he had instructions to withdraw it.

Tebandeke’s lawyers led by Geoffrey Turyamusiima and Electoral Commission’s lawyer Hamidu Lugoloobi didn’t raise any objection to the submission. The Justices were left with no choice but to endorse the withdrawal and dismiss the appeal without ordering costs.

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