The Court of Appeal has declared former NBS TV journalist, Joyce Bagala Ntwatwa as the duly elected Woman Member of Parliament for Mityana District.
Bgala beat Minister Nabakooba in the recently concluded general election for the Mityana Woman MP position prompting the latter to challenge the election in court.
The High Court in Mubende last year ruled that there was voter bribery, multiple voting during the January 14 polls in Mityana committed by Bagala or her agents and consequently the non-compliance with the electoral laws saw the presiding judge order for a fresh election after throwing Bagala out of parliament.
Joyce Bagala however unhappy with the decision appealed against the same in the Court of Appeal which has made a judgement today morning.
A panel of three justices including Geoffrey Kiryabwire, Stephen Musota and Christopher Gashirabake where in agreement with the reasoning of Joyce Bagala and Electoral Commission’s lawyers that the lower court was wrong to throw her out and order a fresh election and there reasoning was that.
“Both the quantitative and qualitative tests should have been applied in filing of the non-compliance with electoral laws by Nabakooba.
The claimant however didn’t show how the non-compliance would have changed the outcome of the election results,” the justices ruled.
The Learned Justices of the court of Appeal further stated that the onus to prove the effect of the said non-compliance on the outcome of the election lay on Nabakooba’s side the Petitioner which was not the case as the burden of proof shifted to Joyce Bagala to prove that she had committed the atrocities in the petition which was a misdirection of the law as the law on burden of proof is clear to that effect.
This then rendered the appeal lodged by Joyce Bagala a success and the decision of the lower trial court an nagatory and the appellant was declared as the duly elected Woman Member of Parliament for Mityana District .
ED Kayemba
