Uganda’s Judiciary says the drama that happened in the Supreme Court on Thursday was caused by delays on the part of Justice Esther Kisakye.
Justice Kisakye, a member of the Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny Dollo, accused the latter of confiscating a file containing her dissenting ruling on the Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine election petition withddrawal.
“I’m seated here today to give my ruling, my reasons for the rulings we have made in the presidential election petition which was withdrawn recently. I instructed my staff to put my ruling here for delivery. The Chief Justice and other members of the forum have opted not to be part of this afternoon proceeding and i respect their decision. However, what is of surprise to me is that, my file has apparently been confiscated on the orders of the chief justice,” Justice Kisakye said on Thursday.
However, the Judiciary Spokesperson, Solomon Muyita, says justices always share their draft rulings to get opinions from their colleagues which Kisakye did not do causing the dramatic scenes.
“Yesterday, Justice Kisakye had indicated that her ruling wasn’t ready. When they asked her to circulate, she said she was finalizing something. After the health break, she hadn’t come back by 1:30 pm and they had to wait for her up to 2:00pm,” Muyita said in an interview with NBS TV.
He added, “The Cheif Justice sent for her and when she came she said she wasn’t willing to share her ruling. The other justices didn’t find this proper so they didn’t follow her to the courtroom. When the CJ saw that something wasn’t right, that is when he decided to move the matter to a later date.”
However, explaining her decision to act the way she did, Justice Kisakye said although they share their rulings, the judges are not bound to do so.
She later delivered her ruling, disagreeing with eight Justices in their decision on two applications arising from the presidential election petition filed by former presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
Kyagulanyi petitioned the Supreme Court to challenge President Museveni’s victory in the presidential elections. At the start of the petition hearing, Kyagulanyi first filed an application seeking to be given more time to amend his petition and introduce new grounds. He filed another seeking to file additional affidavits and another seeking to withdraw the whole petition.
“The restrictions on the movements of the applicant as pleaded in his affidavit and as confirmed by High Court more than constituted the special circumstances which were envisaged under rule 17 of the Presidential Election Rules,” she said. Kisakye added the rest of the Justices should have allowed the applicant to file additional evidence which was ready on the morning of February 15, 2021, when the deadline was on February 14th 2021.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had confirmed the election of incumbent President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni after allowing the withdrawal of NUP’s President, Bobi Wine’s Election Petition with no orders to costs.