The High Court in Mbarara has dismissed an application by Mbarara City North parliamentary candidate Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari seeking permission to use alternative means to serve court documents in his election petition against Christopher Bakashaba and the Electoral Commission.
Rukaari had asked the court to allow him to serve the petition through newspaper publications after failing to directly deliver the documents to Bakashaba.
However, the court rejected the request, finding that he had not made sufficient effort to serve the respondent in the first place. In his ruling, Acting Judge Gelase Kwemara Kafuuzi said the evidence presented did not clearly show that any attempt at service had actually reached Bakashaba.
The judge pointed to inconsistencies in the documents filed, including unclear WhatsApp messages and missing attachments, which made it impossible to confirm that the respondent had been notified.
Rukaari, who contested as an independent candidate in the January 15 general election, is challenging Bakashaba’s victory on the grounds that he lacked the required academic qualifications.
He had asked the court to nullify the election and declare him the rightful winner, as well as to order Bakashaba’s prosecution. Bakashaba, the NRM candidate, won the election with 50,478 votes, while Rukaari came second with 4,802 votes.
The Electoral Commission later gazetted Bakashaba as the duly elected MP. The failed application means Rukaari cannot proceed with his petition using an alternative service, dealing a major setback to his case. NB: This article puts right and corrects an earlier article filed, indicating that the Court had dismissed the main petition filed by Robert Rukaari.
This anomaly was pointed out by the petitioner, Robert Rukaari, when reached by the URN reporter in Mbrarara. He stated that as far as he is concerned, his main case will be heard next month. URN