Lawyer Paul Kenneth Kakande representing Sulaiman Kidandala has accused Kawempe North MP Ssegirinya Muhammed of plotting run out of the country to dodge Court case.
He claimed that Ssegirinya has applied for a Visa at the Germany Embassy to fly out and dodge court scheduled for 2nd September 2021.
Kakande explained that Ssegirinya is aware that he used fake academic documents to be nominated as a candidate in the Kawempe North MP race and this is why he is playing games to defeat justice.
Electoral Commission Lawyer asked Court to dismiss the Ssegirinya case on grounds that he wasn’t served by Kidandala’s lawyers.
Kidandala claimed that he and his lawyer went to Kityala prison where Ssegirinya was being detained to serve him only for Ssegirinya to refuse to accept his copy without his lawyers being present.
He noted that they have evidence that they went to Kityala with the OC willing to testify on the matter.
Kakande also accused Ssegirinya of playing ping pong games in the petition challenging his election.
Sulaiman Kidandala who came second in the Kawempe North January polls with 7,512 votes dragged Ssegirinya who won the seat with 41,197 votes to court for lack of requisite academic qualifications.
The Electoral Commission is also a respondent in the matter for allowing Ssegirinya nominated when he is not a registered voter of Kawempe North or any other area in Uganda.
Kakande claimed that Ssegirinya was playing ping pong games to waste court’s time.
The lawyers insisted that it is appalling that having been served through the Officer in Charge of Kitalya prison, Ssegirinya is still denying.
Kakande further insisted that Ssegirinya is playing games as one of the tactics to escape the petition.
“We are aware that Ssegirinya is processing a visa to Germany under the guise of sickness so that when he is wanted by court, he is not around. He is trying to run away from the real issues in the petition by claiming that he was not served but this won’t be allowed,” he said.
Court sets ground
The court has however set September 2, 2021 as the date to hear the application in which the Electoral Commission asked that the election petition against Ssegirinya be dismissed for not being served.
In its arguments, the EC says there is no evidence to show that Kidandala’s lawyers served Ssegirinya with a copy of the petition challenging his election since he was in prison by the time the petition was filed.
“It’s not true that I witnessed the service of the notice of presentation of the petition on Ssegirinya Muhammed and that he refused to sign on them after reading through as alleged or that the documents were left at the prison,” says an affidavit by Felix Mugirya, the deputy officer in charge of Kitalya prison where Ssegirinya was kept.
The affidavit has been used by the Electoral Commission in their application seeking for the petition against Ssegirinya to be dismissed.