Kampala, Uganda | URN | The decision to petition and to withdraw may be the petitioner’s alone, but it is of concern to all citizens as it seeks to overturn the results of the general election that determined who will lead their country for the next five years beginning mid-May 2021.
A section of Members of Parliament [MPs] have thus expressed their reactions over former Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine’s move to withdraw his petition after saying that he would not get justice.
The National Unity Platform [NUP] Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu on Monday 22, February 2021 directed his lawyers to withdrawn the election petition challenging President Yoweri Museveni’s victory.
Mr Kyagulanyi said his team stood no chance in a court that looks compromised by the incumbent. He said the judges of the Supreme Court met President Museveni who is a respondent in the case up to three times and there is a likelihood of bias.
Mr Kyagulanyi also said that the fact that he could not amend the petition to include more grounds meant he couldn’t move forward.
What MPs say following Bobi Wine’s withdrawal of election petition
Ronald Mugume, the Rukungiri Municipality MP says that Mr Kyagulanyi should have continued with the case and exposed the weakness in the Judiciary.
He also says that the issue of independence of the judiciary is something that should be discussed since it has continued to be mentioned in all electoral petitions.
Mr Mugume claims currently Mr Museveni is a big player in the Judiciary, and the Legislature.
Mr Mugume says exposing the system is also a form of justice, and his withdrawal would make it seem like President Museveni won genuinely. He says people should not be led to misunderstand that the elections were free and fair.
Wilfred Niwagaba, the Ndorwa East MP says Kyagulanyi’s decision is his and no one can and should even say he is right or wrong. He however says the issue of bias is of strong concern.
Nandala Mafabi, the Secretary General Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] says they gave NUP the space and were waiting for the submissions and arguments. He says that that previously they have gone to court and nothing has worked.
Bukomansimbi County MP Deogracious Kiyingi says the withdrawal of the election petition might affect the political career of Mr Kyagulanyi and the same voters might lose confidence in him if he contends in any elective politics, saying he might as well have not participated in the elections.
Abbas Agaba the Kitagwenda County MP says it is Mr Kyagulanyi’s right to withdraw a case when he thinks justice will not be served.
“It is his right to withdraw a case, especially if he says there will not be fair hearing since he says the judges are biased,” he says.
However, some MPs say Mr Kyagulanyi was not prepared enough to petition the court over the irregularities that marred the general elections 2021.
Kabula County MP James Kakoza Kyagulanyi says Mr Kyagulanyi perhaps didn’t have enough evidence, that is why he came in later, adding that if he had all the results declarations forms countrywide there would be no reason to withdraw the petition.
