Former Nakaseke Central Member of Parliament Allan Mayanja has told the High Court that alleged violence by security personnel against his polling agents prevented him from obtaining declaration of results forms from 10 polling stations during the parliamentary election.
Mayanja, who contested on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket, is challenging the election of State Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs Kyofa Kabuye, who was declared the winner with 13,742 votes against Mayanja’s 8,298.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Mayanja petitioned the High Court, challenging Kabuye’s victory and the Electoral Commission’s declaration of the results. On Monday, Mayanja appeared before Justice Samuel Emokor for cross-examination over alleged irregularities at polling stations, where he claims results were improperly tallied and declared, substantially affecting the election outcome.
Geoffrey Kandeebe Ntambirweki, counsel for Kabuye, accused Mayanja of failing to appoint polling agents across all 95 polling stations in the constituency and collect declaration of results forms to support his election challenge. Ntambirweki also questioned Mayanja’s account of appointing agents on polling day, meeting them and subsequently collecting results from them.
He suggested that the petitioner’s testimony was untrue and that some appointment letters had been issued retrospectively to support the case. Nasser Sserunjogi, representing the Electoral Commission, challenged Mayanja’s claim that he personally witnessed the alleged irregularities, arguing that some of the individuals cited in his evidence had not filed affidavits before court.
Sserunjogi further argued that even if results from 20 polling stations were added to Mayanja’s tally and deducted from Kabuye’s total, the petitioner would still lose by 1,070 votes. In response, Mayanja told the court that he had collected results from 85 of the 95 polling stations before arriving at the tally centre at about 8 pm, claiming that he was leading the race at the time.
He said the results he obtained from the 85 polling stations enabled him to detect what he described as alterations in figures announced by the returning officer. Mayanja testified that he objected to discrepancies at 20 polling stations, but his complaints were ignored.
Mayanja further alleged that Kabuye and soldiers threatened him when he attempted to challenge the results. He said he failed to obtain declaration of results forms from the remaining 10 polling stations because soldiers allegedly disrupted the voting process and subjected his agents to violence.
Among the polling stations he cited were Nabisojjo, Bwami Buwome, Kirinda, Kiswaga, Kalungu, Kalagala and Kabale. He alleged that soldiers arrested his agents before the results were altered in a manner that undermined his lead.
However, Sserunjogi challenged Mayanja over his failure to report the alleged incidents to the Electoral Commission or the police. Mayanja admitted that he had not made such reports. The lawyer also questioned allegations in Mayanja’s affidavit that deceased persons had voted at some polling stations, pointing out that the petitioner had not presented death certificates to support the claims. Mayanja acknowledged that he had not obtained the certificates.
The hearing was adjourned to Wednesday, October 14, when Kabuye’s lawyers are expected to cross-examine Mayanja’s handwriting expert and 15 of his polling agents over the alleged alteration of declaration of results forms. Speaking to journalists after the proceedings, Kabuye said the cross-examination had exposed weaknesses in the petition and expressed confidence in his defence.
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