Akena: "Court ruling has nothing to do with my term in office"

Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) President Jimmy Akena has said that he is still the duly elected president of the party and that the Court of Appeal ruling that annulled his election has nothing to do with his new term of office.

His remarks came shortly after the Court of Appeal in Kampala threw him out of the party presidency.

The High Court in 2015 declared that Akena is not the legitimate UPC president and consequently, threw him out office.

However, Akena together with the party’s electoral commission appealed against the decision before the Court of Appeal.

On Monday, a panel of three Justices including Elizabeth Musoke, Christopher Izama Madrama and Irene Mulyagonja threw out Akena’s appeal arguing that it holds no water.

The judges said it is wrong for Akena to continue carrying out duties of the party yet he is in office illegally since 2015 when the HighCourt threw him out.

However, while speaking to the media on Tuesday in Kampala, Akena said that court's ruling won't affect him in anyway and ask the members not to panic.

“This ruling dealt with a term with started in 2015 and ended in 2020. The term was not supposed to have exceeded the 1st July 2020, but because of the Covid-19 lockdown, we went one month beyond that period and we were able to conclude in August where we held the delegates conference which ushered in the new term,” Akena said.

Akena said thepParty will continue to run its electoral activities that include conducting party primaries later this month.

"So, with that in mind, we are continuing with the process of rebuilding the party,"he said.

"I wish to state clearly that the term in question in this court process is the one from 2015 to 2020 and it has absolutely nothing to do with that from 2020 to 2025,” Akena added.

Akena noted the Court of Appeal judgement has been overtaken by events and does not affect his new term as party president.

He encouraged party members to continue with the mobilisation as the country heads towards the general election come 2021.