Bagala, Zaake roar as Nabakooba beats them in court

Mityana Woman Member of Parliament (MP) Joyce Bagala and her National Unity Platform (NUP) colleague Francis Butebi Zaake (Mityana Municipality) are in a troll mood following a decision by the High Court in Mubende to quash Bagala’s victory.

Court in Mubende, yesterday nullified the election of Joyce Bagala as Mityana Woman MP following a petition from her rival Judith Nabakooba citing voter bribery, intimidation, and electoral malpractices.

According to Nabakooba, Bagala’s camp intimidated her agents as well as obstructing voters,

On Friday, Justice Emmanuel Baguma ruled that there was enough evidence to prove that the Bagala through her agents, with her knowledge and consent or approval, committed the electoral offense of bribery.

“Court, therefore, makes the following orders that the election of the second respondent (Bagala) as Woman Member of Parliament for Mityana District Constituency is set aside.”

The judge also ordered for a by-election to be held in Mityana District Constituency for the Woman Member of Parliament.

Following the decision by the court, Bagala indicated that she expected such a judgment because of the way the judge was acting.

“They told us to go to court since they won't be sending email on judgment, we woke up very early and reached court. On reaching court, the judgment was instead sent by email,” she said.

Bagala initially said she would appeal the decision by the court, but as of Saturday, she had not made a final decision on the matter.

“I am immensely grateful for the kind messages, posts, & calls of encouragement that I have received from my Mityana voters, religious leaders, traditional leaders, politicians across the political divide and all change seeking Ugandans following the nullification of our election,” she said.

“I am overwhelmed by the amount of support I have received already, with some voters and supporters advising us to appeal the high court ruling while others want us to go back to the ballot and we assert our power and will. In the next few days, we shall announce our way forward,” she added.

On the other hand, her colleague Zaake has expressed dismay at the decision by the court.

“Specifically, among other things, the Judge stated that I bribed voters in Mityana to vote for Hon. Bagala. In his Judgment, Hon. Justice Baguma states that I acted as Hon. Bagala's agent and bribed a one Nakyagaba Tolophina with UGX 10,000/= to vote for my candidate,” he said in a Twitter thread.

“I take strong exception to this outrageous conclusion that the Judge reached without even offering me an opportunity to be heard, even when I attended many Court sessions that the Judge presided over,” he added.

Zaake wondered how it is possible he did not bribe his own supporters and instead chose to bribe those of Joyce Bagala.

“Generally speaking, I think that this judgment sets a bad precedent which should find no space in our Country's Jurisprudence. It's good to know that Hon. Bagala intends to appeal it.”

On her part, Nabakooba was grateful, thanking her party chairman for supporting her throughout the petition.

Thank you. I want to thank everyone who believed in our victory from the first day and stood by us to make sure we reclaim it. I thank my Party, Party Chair & for the people in Mityana, you're deeply at heart!