Member of Parliament Patrick Nsamba Oshabe has commended the Mubende Magistrate’s Court following the dismissal of a vote recount petition filed against his victory in the Kassanda North parliamentary race.
In a tense court session presided over by Chief Magistrate Norbert Ssajjabbi, the court heard an application filed by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) parliamentary candidate for Kassanda North, Isaac Kamulegeya.
Kamulegeya had challenged the declaration of Nsamba, who contested on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket, as the duly elected Member of Parliament, seeking a recount over alleged electoral irregularities.
Through his lawyer, Rashid Kamulegeya, the applicant argued that his polling agents were denied access to Declaration of Results forms from four parishes and claimed that a recount could overturn the outcome of the election.
He also accused the Electoral Commission of colluding with Nsamba, allegations that were strongly contested by Abubaker Kayondo, counsel representing the Electoral Commission.
In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Ssajjabbi faulted the applicant for suing the Electoral Commission instead of the presiding officer he alleged had denied his agents access to the declaration forms.
The court agreed with the second respondent’s counsel that the affidavit in support of the application was speculative and unsupported by evidence.
The Magistrate noted that although the applicant disputed declaration forms presented by the second respondent as results for Kabaale Church of Uganda polling station, he failed to satisfy the court that the respondents bore the burden of producing complete results from that polling station.
“With due respect to counsel for the applicant, it is the applicant who stated that results from the said polling stations were not considered. None of the respondents sued in this application were returning officers, and therefore none of them had the evidential burden to prove results that were considered,” the ruling read.
The court held that the appropriate person to provide such information was the returning officer responsible for declaring the results.
However, the applicant did not sue the returning officer and could not demand evidence from respondents who were not mandated to declare results.
The Magistrate further stated that it was the applicant’s duty to demonstrate that results from Kabaale Church of Uganda polling station were excluded by showing what was included and omitted in the final tally, which indicated that he lost the election by 116 votes.
“I therefore find that the applicant failed to discharge the burden required to satisfy this court that the final results were made without declaration of result forms from Kabaale Church of Uganda polling station,” the Magistrate ruled.
On the claim that polling agents were denied access to declaration forms, the court found that the applicant had not demonstrated how this affected the numerical expression of the results.
The court also noted that none of the applicant’s agents presented evidence to support the allegation.
The Magistrate added that even if such denial had occurred, it did not constitute sufficient grounds for a recount but rather grounds for an election petition.
“With a vote recount application, the court is guided by numerical expressions brought to the attention of the Chief Magistrate. It is this numerical concern that forms the basis upon which the court exercises discretion to order a recount,” Ssajjabbi stated.
The court concluded that the application lacked numerical evidence and that the issues raised amounted to alleged irregularities and non-compliance, which could only be addressed through an election petition.
The application was dismissed with costs, with the court ordering that the security for costs deposited by the applicant be used to cover the respondents’ costs after taxation.
Following the ruling, Nsamba thanked the court for what he described as a fair and truthful decision, dismissing claims that political influence would sway the outcome.
“We have been under pressure, but I want to thank the court for giving a fair judgment. Our people in Kassanda are now jubilating,” Nsamba said.
Kassanda District Woman Member of Parliament Flavia Nabagabe Kalule described the ruling as a major boost for NUP in the district.
“They want to wipe out NUP in Kassanda because Nsamba is the only remaining NUP MP after what they did to us. We are glad he has won the case,” Nabagabe said.
The applicant, Isaac Kamulegeya, later conceded defeat and urged his supporters to return to their normal activities as they await the next five-year electoral cycle.
