New twist in speaker race as Salaamu Musumba rushes to court seeking nullification of Kadaga’s Kamuli victory

Former Kamuli Woman MP Candidate Proscovia Salaamu Musumba has petitioned the high court in Jinja seeking the overturning of Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s electoral victory in the January 14 parliamentary poll for the Kamuli District Woman Member MP.

In the said polls, Kadaga defeated Musumba with a mammoth 92,388 votes against the former’s 26,851 votes.

Musumba now seeks that should declare the results null and void and go on to order that the Electoral Commission organizes fresh free and fair elections. 

Through her lawyers; Galisonga & Co. Advocates and Isabirye & Co. Advocates Musumba accuses the Electoral Commission for failing to conduct a free and fair election and Kadaga of voter bribery and rigging.

“Your humble petitioner contends that in the conduct of the aforementioned elections, the 2nd respondent grossly failed in its constitutional duty of organizing a free and fair election, in that the agents refused to properly use biometric voter identification machines at most of polling stations,” part of the petition reads.

Musumba alleges that Kadaga’s polling agents presided over malpractices at polling stations like ballot stuffing, falsifying declaration of results forms, forcing her agents of the petitioner to sign declaration of results forms among others.

She adds that there was inflating the votes purportedly scored by the Kadaga and that EC agents refused to properly use biometric voter identification machines at most of the polling stations.

Musumba states that during the campaign period, with the intent of influencing voters to vote for her, Kadaga personally and through her agents with her knowledge, bribed voters with money, gifts like tents- written on ‘Donated by Kadaga’, motor vehicles, motorcycles and money and many other items.

She accuses Kadaga of organizing violent groups to deface her campaign posters in Kamuli and using abusive language against her during campaigns.

“Organized violent groups to meet violence and/or threaten violence against the petitioner and her supporters and defaced campaign posters in Nabwigulu sub-county, Kamuli Municipality, Kitayunywa sub-county, Magogo sub-county, Balawali sub-county and several other places in Kamuli district.”

She further claims that EC selectively recruited pro Kadaga polling officials hostile to her and intentionally doing so to assault the tenets of level-ground competition and fair play thus compromising the electoral process in favor of her competitor.

By the time of Musumba’s electoral challenge, Kadaga is involved in a bitter contest with her deputy Jacob Oulanyah to retain her position as Speaker of Parliament.

If her election is cancelled, Kadaga would not be eligible to contest for speakership.