It is grief, despair and anguish in Mityana district as residents strive to come to terms with the fact that the Court of Appeal has denied them a representation of their choice in Parliament.
On Thursday, Court of Appeal dismissed a High Court decision that had nullified the election of a one Joyce Bagala as the district Woman Member of Parliament.
Bagala, a candidate of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) won the January 14, 2021 polls with a margin of 16,000 votes to defeat Hon Judith Nabakooba. But, Nabakooba filed a petition to challenge the outcome of the polls on grounds that Bagala was not validly elected to represent the Mityana district in parliament.
She accused the Electoral Commission of failing to secure conditions necessary for the conduct of the election. She added that while registered voters were threatened, and her agents intimidated, EC presiding officers connived with Bagala and her agents to procure voting by unregistered persons, facilitate impersonation of voters, and multiple voting.
Nabakooba also accused Bagala of bribing voters through Francis Butebi Ssembusi, the father to Mityana municipality MP Francis Zaake who is said to have given 200,000 Shillings to Bonny Kalema, Annet Nakaggwa, Annet Alumaiya and Varitino Sebwarida and asked them to vote for Joyce Bagala.
On October 2, the Mubende High Court Judge, Emmanuel Baguma nullified Bagala’s elections faulting her for not bringing Butebi to court, to justify whether he was giving out money on her behalf.
He further ruled that Nabakooba proved her case on a balance of probabilities to the satisfaction of the court. He ordered the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct fresh elections for the seat.
This, ignited a lot of hope and optimism among the locals who had clearly witnessed the bad and ugly in Bagala’s purported election, with the hope that an opportunity had showed, for them theur voice to be heard.
Their excitement was however, short-lived as Bagala appealed against the decision on grounds that the trial judge erred in law and fact when he held that Butebi Sembusi and MP Francis Zake were her agents.
She argued that the judge failed to evaluate the evidence on record and ended up with a wrong conclusion that there was non-compliance with the electoral laws and principles during the elections among other grounds.
The expectation was that Court of Appeal would uphold the decision by the High Court but today, three judges Geoffrey Kiryabwiire, Stephen Musota and Christopher Gashirabake set aside the decision by the High Court in Mubende and reinstated Bagala as the duly elected MP for Mityana District, sending the locals into bitterness and agony.
A spot check in some parts of the district on Thursday revealed a sombre mood as residents felt betrayed by the Courts of law.
“It is very annoying and sad to imagine that we are to stay orphaned for the next 4 years,” Kasule Bashir a resident of Naama says. To the residents, the said legislator is completely out of touch with the people she represents.
“Nabakooba is our only hope, what she did here when was an MP and also now as lands Minister is overwhelming. The water, electricity name it. We need services not those city dwellers,” says Carol Tusiime an elderly resident in Kabasanda.
It is with no doubt that Mityana has gone silent, the people feel deserted and their decision and wishes quashed. In fact, no celebrations have been witnessed in the district.
This news website has it on good authority that media outlets and reporters known to fight Nabakooba have throughout the day labored to find footage of residents celebrating the decision but their efforts hit a dead end, because non took place.
Meanwhile, Hon Nabakooba, a workaholic Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, has since said that she is actually not derailed by the judgement from serving the people and Uganda.
Nabakooba says she is more motivated to keep the pace in making the lives of people of her district and Uganda better especially at time when land evictions are on the rise.
“I am keeping up with my obligations towards our people. We must change lives, we must improve our livelihoods,” says Nabakooba.
“Today I met with our women mobilisers to talk about the Parish Development Model. We remain committed to improving the lives of our people in Mityana,” she adds.
Although, not in Parliament, Nabakooba will remain a source of hope and well-being of the people of Mityana district. Her love for them and their development is unmatched.
In May, she donated an an ultrasound machine to Mityana Hospital that relieved the facility from the burden of operating without a functioning machine.