Court of appeal has Thursday nullified the election of Ouma Adea as chairperson LC V Busia District and ordered the Electoral Commission to organise fresh elections.
Three justices; Remmy Kasule , Kenneth Kakuru and Geoffrey Kiryabwire unanimously concurred with Mbale Highcourt judge Andrew Basaija that Section 46 of the Anti-corruption Act bars Ouma Adea from holding public office having been convicted of corruption 6 years ago.
Justice Andrew Bashaija in July 2016, nullified the election of Ouma Adea and accordingly ordered fresh elections, this was after a petition by Deogratious Njoki and Suwed Oundo.
The duo arged that at the time of his nomination, Adea was not qualified to hold public office. They claimed that Adea was barred from holding public office for a period of 10 years when he was convicted by the Anti-Corruption Court for abuse of office and corruption.
The IGG had also written to Adea a year before and cautioned him against standing for any elective position until after 10 years.
However, Adea protested the outcomes of the case, saying the judge wasn't fair to him since he has an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Anti-Corruption Court. He thus ran to the Court of Appeal to determine his case.
This is the second time Adea is being kicked out of the same office.
In October 2011, Adea was dragged to court for bribery and abuse of office six months into his term as LC V chairman. He was charged with soliciting and receiving bribes and abuse of office. Court established that Adea solicited for gratification of 2,000 dollars from Paul Sherwen, the Managing Director of Busitema Mining Company.
The money was an inducement to allow the company survey land at Tiira trading center in Busitema Sub County in Busia district for purposes of mining gold. He reportedly received the money at Golf Course Hotel on Yusuf Lule road in Kampala. It was against this background that court kicked him out of office.
