The respondents in the election petition filed by the National Unity Platform-NUP presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine have accepted a withdrawal of the case by the petitioner.
These include; the 1st respondent, President Yoweri Museveni who won with 58 percent against Kyagulanyi’s 35 percent votes, Electoral Commission, and the Attorney General.
Kyagulanyi filed an application stating six reasons under which he decided to withdraw the case, these include; abduction, harassment, intimidation, and torture of his witnesses by state security operatives under the command of Museveni and the Attorney General.
Oscar Kihika the Director Legal Affairs of National Resistance Movement however says the terms under which the deal was signed are lacking.
Kihika says that Kyagulanyi’s affidavit alleging abduction of his witness is a false claim which is irrelevant to the current application as the evidence to be relied upon in the petition was already before the court at the time of seeking to withdraw.
Kihika also says that evidence adduced indicates that Kyagulanyi’s allegations in the application for withdrawal and during the proceedings have been false, dishonest, and insincere.
The Electoral Commission through an affidavit of Stephen Tashobya who is a Commissioner at the Electoral Commission equally okays the withdraw of the petition and states similar reasons like for the incumbent President.
The Attorney General through an affidavit by the Deputy Attorney General and the Minister of State for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Jackson Kafuuzi says that when Kyagulanyi got all the difficulties he alleges such as witnesses being abducted or arrested, he didn’t reach out to the government to seek any assistance to have them resolved.
The respondents have however left the mantle of costs for the case to the supreme court.
