Six MPs of the newly created Municipalities are to stay in parliament after the Supreme Court stays expulsion.
Six municipality MPs of the newly created Municipalities are to stay in parliament after the Supreme Court in Kampala annulled the earlier Constitutional Court judgment that had expelled the MPs from the Parliament.
The Constitutional Court last year had ejected 6 Mps including; Patrick Ocan (Apac Municipality), Dr Elioda Tumwesigye(Sheema Municipality), Tarsis Rwaburindore Bishanga (Ibanda Municipality), Hashim Suiliman (Nebbi Municipality), Abrahams Lokii( Kotido Municipality) plus Asuman Basalirwa for Bugiri Municipality.
The Constitution Court said that the newly created Municipalities had not been demarcated by the Electoral Commission. After this judgment, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General appealed against the judgment in the Supreme Court.
In a majority judgment delivered on Thursday, the justices including Stella Arach, Esther Kisaakye, Opio Aweri, Lillian Tibatemwa, Richard Buteera, Mike Chibita and Paul Mugamba directed that the six MPs should stay in Parliament as they wait for the outcome of the main case in which they are challenging the Constitutional Court judgment.
“We find that the applicants have shown seriousness to follow the appeal and the application was lodged without undue delay,” the Supreme Court ruled.
The judge also said that the applicants pleased them on a pending appeal that could raise legal and public issues, and there is a need to maintain the status quo.
“We find that the proposed appeal involves matters of significant public importance and raises serious constitutional and legal matters which warrant determination by this Court. This court has to ensure that the intended appeals if successful are not rendered nugatory,” the Court said.
The registrar of the Constitutional Court was directed by the Supreme Court to expeditiously produce the record of Proceedings to enable the MPs to file their appeal.
On December 27, 2019, the Constitutional Court ruled that six municipality Mps for the newly created Municipalities were illegally in Parliament since they had gone through a general election neither had they been through a by-election.
“under article 81 (2) were a vacancy exists in parliament, a by-election must be held within 60 days after a vacancy has occurred provided it is not less than after the months from the conclusion of the general election. No vacancy had occurred because as noted above all, all existing 20 existing constituencies had been represented in the 2016 general election,” the Constitutional Court said.
The former Bufumbira East MP Eddie Kwizera had petitioned the Constitutional Court concerning this matter of six municipality MPs of the newly created Municipalities.
