City lawyer Male Mabirizi has petitioned the East African Court of Justice challenging the procedure leading to the election of Jacob Oulanyah as the Speaker of Parliament.
Oulanyah, the National Resistance Movement candidate in the race obtained 310 votes to defeat two of his rivals, Rebecca Kadaga who obtained 197 votes and Forum for Democratic Change’s Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda who scored 15 votes.
According to Mabirizi, the election of Oulanyah and his Deputy Anita Among which occurred on May 24th 2021 was marred by a number of illegalities such as announcing of vote results higher than the ascertained number of MPs present, deployment of Uganda People’s Defense Forces in Parliament and convening the first sitting of 11th Parliament in absence of a proclamation by the President.
Other irregularities Mabirizi states include the decision by the Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo to preside over an election where Oulanyah, his professional referee on Curriculum Vitae was a candidate, participation of President Yoweri Museveni in the proceedings of the day and the President’s decision to host his political party’s Executive Committee and Parliamentary Caucus in State house towards elections.
Mabirizi argues that when you add Oulanyah’s 310 votes, Kadaga’s 197 votes, Ssemujju’s 15 votes and the two invalid votes, the number totals to 524 votes, wondering where the extra 204 votes came from since they are more than the number of present MPs by the time the exercise started.
