Lawyers of former parliamentary seat contestant for West Division, Hoima City, Mr Ismail Kasule, have petitioned the Court of Appeal over the delay to fix hearing of the case their client filed against the current legislator, Dr Joseph Ruyonga and the Electoral Commission.
The plaintiff accuses the duo of vote rigging in the polls that saw NRM’s Dr Ruyonga declared winner while Mr Kasule – the Alliance for National Alliance (ANT) loser in the 2019 elections.
In the copy, Mr Kasule’s lawyers of Nyanzi, Kiboneka & Mbabazi Advocates request the Registrar of the Court of Appeal of Uganda to fix hearing date of the case arguing that since the matter is an electoral dispute with timelines, it has to be disposed of.
“The matter was filed in court and duly validated. However, it is not yet fixed for hearing. As a matter of good practice, we hereby take the initiative to serve you with the pleadings as we await court to fix the hearing. We request the registrar to fix the matter expeditiously as it is an electoral dispute that has timelines within which it ought to be finally disposed of,” reads the petition in part.
The October 11, 2022, letter was received on October 12, 2022, by the Electoral Commission and JP Baingana & Associated Advocates – lawyers for defendant Dr Ruyonga.
This follows a notice of motion Mr Kasule applied through his advocates calling for the applicant’s counsel to be heard on the grounds that the declaration that the decision of the Court of Appeal in election appeal delivered on June 22, 2022, was allegedly contrary to the law and null and void besides the costs of application.
This is a response to Dr Ruyonga’s notice of motion that Mr Kasule provides costs for the application since the Court of Appeal dismissed with costs his application for a vote recount.
“The respondent [Mr Kasule] has never paid any costs in a [vote] recount application, an election petition and application for discovery which were both dismissed with costs and the applicant [Dr Ruyonga] is financially stressed,” Dr Ruyonga’s advocates wrote.
Mr Kasule who vied for the West Division legislative seat rushed to Hoima magistrate’s court challenging Dr Ruyonga’s victory in the poll before appealing to High Court in Masindi where he also lost the case in a verdict read on September 28, 2022.
He thereafter rushed to the Court of Appeal in which he also lost the case as per the judgement read on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at 9:30am in Kampala.
Now he wants the same court comprising a panel of five judges to rehear the case for justice.
