Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu’s Alliance for National Transaction [ANT] has become the latest major opposition player to pledge support for Robert Kyagulanyi’s bid to have the Jan 14 election results annulled after Forum for Democratic Change’s Erias Lukwago.
ANT’S Muntu was among the eleven candidates that sought the Presidency in the recently concluded election which was won by the incumbent Yoweri Museveni.
On Monday, February 1, the NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi, through his lawyers filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the victory of President-elect Museveni amid carrying opinions on the matter from some members within the opposition ranks that have argued that the move will be time wasting after a string of such actions in the past have yielded no fruits.
Kyagulanyi filed the petition through five law firms led by Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago’s Lukwago and Company Advocates.
The other firms are Pace and Company Advocates, Sewakambo and Company Advocates, Wameli and Company Advocates and Kiwanuka, Kanyango and Company Advocates. The respondents in the petition which will be determined in 60 days include Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General.
In 2001, the Supreme Court, in a petition filed by then main presidential challenger Col Dr Kizza Besigye ruled that there had indeed been rigging but only not to a substantial degree that could warrant the nulification of the results.
Subsequent petitions in 2006 and 2011 met similar fates before the most recent one in 2016 which was filed by former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi. In the latter, although all the judges ruled in favor of the respondents, some changes in the electoral framework were recommended to be implemented before the next general election which was never done.
While addressing the media on Monday at their party headquarters in Kampala, ANT Spokesperson Wilberforce Sseryazi said that they were very aware that President Museveni rigged the recently concluded elections that why they are backing Bobi Wine in the Supreme Court.
“The helplessness, incompetence and the irresponsibility of the Electoral Commission (EC) were perfectly exposed in 2021 through different categories right from the period of updating the entire register up to the last day. It was clear the EC was not independent in doing what it was supposed to do,” he said.
Sseryazi also argued that the heavy security interference in the electoral process served to compromise the outcome of the vote to the detriment of the opposition.
“EC was supposed to be in charge of the entire exercise but the security took over. The printing, packaging and transportation of electoral materials were not done in a transparent and participatory manner. Because in most cases we received invitations when the processes are almost ending.”
He added that ANT has complaints where severally individuals were helped by security agents while doing ballot stuffing.
“This cannot be an election as far as the laws of elections in Uganda are concerned, therefore, we condemned and reject the outcome of this election.”
Former Leader of the Minority Government and outgoing Kasese Woman MP Winnie Kiiza, asserted that going g to court themselves was no longer necessary since NUP, who fall on the same side with them had already done so. She however declared her party’s willingness to boost Bobi Wine’s legal challenge with more threads of evidence should there be need.
“We have not supported going to court because Bobi Wine did so, but we have always said that if any member of the opposition goes to court, we shall support them because we are all after the same goal of freeing our country. And in case NUP wins, it will be victory Ugandans but not NUP only. We cannot also take own petition since we believe that whoever goes to court is doing it on behalf of Ugandans, that is why all Ugandans should get interested in this matter because it’s theirs,” she said.
Kiiza added that the opposition is going to exhaust all avenues available to remove the current regime.
Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, also of FDC is another notable figure that has come out to show his support for Kyagulanyi’s endeavor which he argues is a good move to put the efficacy of the Judiciary on test.
The judges of the Supreme Court have forty five days within which to conclude the hearing and pronounce judgement in time for the swearing in of a new president before the end of May.
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