The hearing of an election petition filed by businessman Mukhesh Babui challenging Joel Ssenyonyi’s victory to the Nakawa West MP seat took place today at the Civil Division of the High Court.
Hon. Ssenyonyi, the 2nd respondent in the case was absent from court but represented by his lawyer Dennis Atwijukire while both Mukhesh and his lawyer Edias Asiimwe were present.
The Court presided over by Justice Isaac Muwaata asked Mukhesh to come to the stand for cross-examination from the defendants. Mukhesh, clad in a blue long-sleeved shirt and black trousers, moved to the stand slowly and seemingly restless as if he was tensed up.
Atwijukire, the respondent’s lawyer started firing hard-hitting questions at Mukhesh who was unsure of what to respond and kept dragging his responses. When asked to mention some of the polling stations and the number of votes polled, Mukhesh only mentioned Kitintale and couldn’t remember the points he got, which brought laughter to the court.
At a certain point, Mukhesh was seen smirking and winking to his lawyer Edias for assistance unsuccessfully. Edias tried to object to some of the questions directed at his client but he was overruled.
Atwijukire, instead countered arguing that Mukhesh as a petitioner in the case, should have most of the information at his fingertips so as to respond to the questions in a timely and accurate manner.
Many minutes into the grilling session on the Petitioner, Court was adjourned for a few minutes and Justice Muwaata said he would return with a date for cross examination of Ssenyonyi who was still absent at that time.
The matter was later adjourned to October 1 at 10am for the cross examination of Ssenyonyi who arrived late.
Mukhesh who came sixth in the race challenged the decision by the Electoral Commission to declare Ssenyonyi as the winner of the January 14 parliamentary elections held in Nakawa West accusing him of irregularities such as falsification of results. This was in the original petition filed on March 19, 2021.
However, on May 10, Mukesh filed an amended petition seeking to introduce new grounds of lack of academic qualifications against Ssenyonyi. He argued that the name under which Ssenyonyi had been nominated was different from the one on his academic records.
According to Mukesh, Ssenyonyi had been nominated as Joel Besekezi Ssenyonyi while academic records indicated that he is Joel Besekezi.
But on August 11, Mukesh filed an application in which he wanted to validate his amended petition since it had been filed out of the stipulated 30 days, without permission from the court.
Mukesh also asked the court to allow him to withdraw the original petition filed in March to remain with one filed in May. This application was dismissed on September 13.
By Rashidah Nakaayi
