The court battle lines have been drawn in the Constitutional petition where the National Resistance Movement (NRM) wants the four MPs expelled from the party.
Expelled MPs at an NRM retreat at Kyankwanzi recently
The battle lines were drawn on Wednesday at the Constitutional Court in Kampala amidst dramatic scenes in court presided by the registrar John Ochepa Arutu.
The parties to the case appeared for conferencing, aimed at narrowing down the contentious issues, that the court should make pronouncement upon.
The drama-filled session started when the lead lawyer of the MPs, ex-Supreme Court judge George Kanyeihamba, asked the registrar to halt proceedings, saying the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case, since it only has a three- member panel of justices.
He cited Articles 135 and 137 of the Constitution which prescribe the composition of both the Constitutional and Court of Appeal, depending on the purpose of its sitting.
“We are raising a preliminary point of law. We have persistently objected to the composition of the Court of Appeal hearing these matters as though it were a Constitutional Court. Court of Appeal sits with three justices. It is a Constitutional Court, there will be five justices,” Kanyeihamba stated, as he threatened to walk out if the registrar proceeded.
He added that he had raised his query in a letter dated June 14, 2013, addressed to the justices Steven Kavuma, Remy Kasule, and Augustine Nshimye. Kanyeihamba said he was yet to get a response.
But the NRM legal team led by John Mary Mugisha, dismissed Kanyeihamba’s argument, saying his query was premature, since the contention over jurisdiction would be addressed by the judges when hearing starts.
“At this stage, we are looking at the issues to be argued about. He is raising the issue in bad faith to delay the case. This is an appropriate time to narrow down the issues, as directed by the timetable given by this court,” Mugisha said.
Others on the NRM legal team were Joseph Matsiko, Chris Bakiza, Severino Twinobusingye, and Sam Mayanja. The Attorney General (AG), who is listed as a co-respondent in the petition, was represented by the director civil litigation Cheborion Barishaki, principal state attorney Patricia Mutesi, and state attorney Richard Adrole.
The expelled rebel MPs are Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga County), Mohammed Nsereko (Kampala central), Barnabas Tinkasimire (Buyaga west) and Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East). All were present except Nsereko. Other lawyers on the rebel MPs team were Julius Galisonga, and Geoffrey Komakech.
Barishaki asked Kanyeihamba to understand the objective of conferencing, saying it would depict all the contentious points that would help in steering the course of the case until conclusion. Matsiko said the query of jurisdiction should be addressed to the justices when hearing commences.
Accordingly, with the intervention of Arutu, issue number one as framed, is whether the court as presently constituted, has jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter. Issue number two is whether NRM is entitled to reliefs sought.
Arutu advised Kanyeihamba that walking out of court would be an ill-calculated move, since court’s play a role of solving disputes. Kanyeihamba later changed his mind, and said he would only sit and listen to proceedings but later interestingly changed his mind and said he would participate. Arutu said the conferencing notes would be sent to the justices, and a hearing date set thereafter.
In May, Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga rejected NRM’s demand to notify the Electoral Commission that the rebel MP seats had become vacant. She said no specific provision in the Constitution on the expulsion of MPs by their political parties, leads to declaring of their seats in parliament vacant.
But the NRM says Kadaga’s ruling contravenes the constitution, and creates a peculiar category of MPs unrecognised by the Constitution, which implies they are strangers. However the rebel MPs insist they are people’s representatives in Parliament, whom NRM has no control over.
By Andante Okanya, The New Vision
