No money to make copies of Suspended MPs Vs Kadaga case judgment; File stuck at Court

The civil division of the High Court is stuck with the file of the matter in which opposition MPs who were suspended from parliament dragged the speaker to court.

The court which is supposed to forward the matter to the constitutional court says they are financially constrained to make the required number of copies for all judges at the constitutional court.

After a follow up interaction with the registry of the civil division of the high court, the opposition members of parliament who were with their lead lawyer Erias Lukwago found that their case file is stuck at the high court after it was returned from the constitutional court.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2018/01/03/high-court-dismisses-suspended-mps-case-against-kadaga/

The file was returned for the lower court to make various copies for each of the justices of the court of appeal, something they say they haven’t, following financial constraints.

“The registrar tells us they don’t have capacity as high court to process required copies. So they are stuck, the high court is constrained in terms of resources, they don’t have money to be specific to make the required copies,” Lukwago says.

Lukwago says they are doing their level best to ensure that all due diligence is followed because it’s the only legal provision they have available to them even if they maintain their position that the trial judge erred when she forwarded the matter for constitutional review before hearing them out.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2017/12/20/suspended-mps-bid-to-take-part-in-age-limit-debate-flops-as-court-defers-their-petition/

‘We cannot go anywhere because you can only appeal when there is an order of dismissal or after an order disposing the case after parties have been hard, which is not our case,” Lukwago adds.

He says they are doing all they can, including his clients moving to cater for the costs of making the extra required copies for the constitutional court.

“My clients have offered to help something outside their mandate. But this shows how government has decided to treat the judiciary.”

Away from the opposition MPs case, the group is also drafting a more detailed petition in which they seek to challenge the lifting of the age limit act after all procedures are concluded.