NUP’s Ssenyonyi challenges new evidence challenging his victory

By Ruth Anderah 

Nakawa West Member of parliament Joel Ssenyonyi has asked the High Court to dismiss both the original and intended amended petition against his victory filed by his political rival Mukesh Shukla.

Through his lawyers led by George Musisi, Ssenyonyi says Mukesh’s petitions lack merit having been filed out of time.

Mukesh , who came sixth in the race of Nakawa West Constituency  in the January election,  applied to Court seeking permission to amend his petition filed on March 9th  2021 challenging the victory of Joel Ssenyonyi to include facts that he says are material to the effective judicial inquiry into the petition.

He contends that the facts in question came into his knowledge after filing the original petition.

The businessman  now wants court to grant him leave to file an amended petition to include issues alleging that   Ssenyonyi was nominated, elected and consequently declared as the legitimate winner without having the mandatory academic qualifications to be in Parliament.

Mukesh now wants the Court to throw Ssenyonyi out of parliament and conduct fresh elections in the Constituency.  

Ssenyonyi ran on the National Unity Platform party ticket and defeated eleven other contenders after obtaining 31,653 votes.

Written by Noelyn Nassuuna