Court of Appeal confirms Bishop Patrick Okabe as MP for Serere

By Ruth  Anderah

The court of Appeal has confirmed Bishop Patrick Okabe as MP for Serere County in Soroti district.

The 3 justices led by the Deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma have unanimously overturned the decision of the Highcourt in  Soroti that had annulled the election of Bishop  Okabe on grounds that  lacks requisite academic qualifications.

This after the court re-evaluated the evidence on record and found out that the petitioner Joseph Opio Linos had no capacity to file an election petition since he was not validly nominated as a candidate to contest in the said election nor did he accompany his petition with 500 signatures from other voters.

The justices ruled that there is evidence that Opio’s nomination was rejected by the returning officer after finding out that his 2 nominees were not registered voters.

That even though Opio appealed to the Electoral Commission, there is no minutes on court record showing that the 5 members of the commission sat and either unanimously or by majority vote decided to nominate him.

The court then ruled that in such circumstances, there was no valid petition to be considered in the Highcourt and therefore allowed Bishop Okabe’s appeal with costs and set aside the order for EC to conduct fresh-elections.

Written by David Kugonza