BUKEDEA ELECTIONS STAND IN BALANCE

There is no fresh elections in Bukedea Court of Appeal has ruled.

I have seen a lot of positions in social media about the pronouncement of the court of Appeal in the case between Akol Hellen Odeke vs Umar Okodel in relation to the refusal by returning officer to nominate Akol following a court order and subsequently declaration of Anita Among as unopposed.

 Some Social  media posts were as bold as “ Anita Among unopposed status cancelled “, others called for a reelection in Bukedea woman member of parliament.

However, I have had the benefit of reading the entire judgement and what appears in social media is completely wrong. One wonders whether it’s a case of wrong interpretation of the decision of court or our usual politics at play.

For starters, One Umar Okodel filed an application at soroti high court stopping the nomination of a one Akol Hellen Odeke to contest the Bukedea woman MP position in the just concluded parliamentary elections. Okodel’s argument was about differences in the names of Akol.

The Soroti high court judge agreed with Okodel and issued an order . The returning officer Bukedea then refused to nominate Akol on the basis of the order. Akol appealed to the electoral commission who agreed with returning officer and the judge.

Akol then ran to the court of Appeal against the orders of the judge at Soroti. She argued that the judge did not have jurisdiction to entertain elections matters before nominations which was the jurisdiction of EC . She wanted the appeal allowed with costs.

However, her lawyers also later asked court for  some consequential orders ; what would be her remedy in case the appeal is allowed. And the two consequential orders prayed for , were;

    1- To De gazette the declaration of Anita Among   as unopposed for the Bukedea woman MP

     2- That fresh nominations exercise and elections date be set by EC for Bukedea woman MP

The court of appeal agreed with Akol that Okodel’s matter was wrongly handled by the high court which did not have jurisdiction. The appealed was allowed with cost in the court of appeal.

However, when it came to the two remedies prayed by Akol viz: cancellation of Anita Among’s gazzetting as unopposed and setting new dates for Bukedea elections; the court said that it could not do so as that would amount to condemning Among without hearing her.

The court further stated that it would be in violation of Anita Among’s constitutional rights to a fair hearing because she was not a party to the case case between Akol and Umar Okodel. The court declined to grant the remedies of cancellation of unopposed and also declined to order for fresh elections.

That therefore meant that Anita Among remained unopposed and There will be NO fresh elections in Bukedea woman MP  said to have been ordered by court of Appeal.

I urge my people not to cause unnecessary excitement and confusion among our people . It’s always good to read the whole decision rather than part of it. As a lawyer, that instinct saved my day . We Iteso also need to get thorough as we used to be when looking at things!