Former Gulu university guild aspirant demands fresh elections

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  A former contestant in the February 14th Gulu University Guild Elections, Thomas Lapyem Awany, has petitioned the student’s Election Tribunal demanding for fresh elections over allegations of irregularities.

On Sunday last week, the students elected Herbert Ayiko from the Faculty of Medicine in a contest that attracted seven competitors. The voting which took place online saw Ayiko polling 607 votes, while his close rival, Lapyem attained 399 votes.

Philip Acidri, the Returning Office declared Ayiko winner of the polls after garnering the majority votes. But Lapyem in his petition described the victory as unconstitutional and contravened Articles 15; 16 and 93 of the Gulu University Guild Constitution of 2012.

Lapyem, a Law student argued that the election was conducted in a manner that disenfranchised the majority voters. He further pointed that the newly adopted electronic voting system had not yet been evaluated, tested and recommended by the systems analyst and IT Department of the University.

“Your petitioner shall pray that the results and the declaration of Mr. Ayiko Herbert as President elect of the just concluded Guild elections be declared unconstitutional, null and void and fresh elections conducted in line with the constitution. The petition read in part.

The University had postponed the elections for the second time on February 26th citing gaps in the Constitution and NRM Liberation public holiday. In April 2020, the elections were suspended following outbreak of COVID-19 which forced Government to close education institutions.

Earlier last week, James Onono Ojok, the Assistant Public Relations Officer explained that the University Council convened a meeting to amend Article 15 and 16 of the Guild Constitution to allow for online voting as Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as recommended by Health Ministry to curtail Coronavirus Disease.

A copy of the petition that URN got was already received and stamped by the Dean of Students, University Bursar and Office of the Vice Chancellor pending acknowledgement and further guidance by the Election Tribunal Chairperson.

Other aspirants for the Guild race included Saddich Ssempijja, Herbert Amaati from the Faculty of Medicine; John Ivan Yiga and Jacob Mukohua from the Faculty of Education and Humanities as well as Dolphine Alonyo from the Faculty of Law.

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URN