Opinion: Keeping Malawi s Tripartite Elections Calendar Inviolable maravipost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from maravipost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Daily Monitor
Sunday May 02 2021
Former Electoral Commission chairperson Badru Kiggundu (centre) testifies before the Supreme Court during the Amama Mbabazi election petition in 2016 . PHOTOS/ FILE
Summary
Five years ago, the Supreme Court seemed to have okayed the idea by the Electoral Commission that it could withdraw a national voters register but this week the Constitutional Court ruled that such an act is illegal,
Derrick Kiyonga writes.
In March 2016, Nobert Mao, sporting his customary suit, made an intermittent visit to the Supreme Court, in Kololo, Kampala.
The Democratic Party’s president general’s visit to the Supreme Court was because he wanted to listen to the judgment of the case in which former prime minister Amama Mbabazi challenged the victory of his former boss, President Museveni, on grounds that it was fraught with fraud.
In his petition, Mabirizi contends that the said decision amounted to Supreme Court usurping powers not granted to it under the laws of Uganda.
He argues that Presidential Elections Act does not give powers to the Supreme Court to declare a person duly elected upon withdrawal of the Petition.
But instead, such a declaration can only be made once the petition has been heard up to its conclusion which was not the case with the election petition filed by former NUP’s presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi.
According to Mabirizi, it doesn’t mean that when there is no one else still challenging Museveni’s victory, the court makes a declaration that he was duly elected when it did not investigate the allegations that were brought before it by Kyagulanyi in his petition which he withdrew before its logical conclusion.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has handed over to Parliament of Malawi used election materials from the by-elections that were held on 30th March, 2021 in seven constituencies.
Section 119 of the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections Act mandates the Clerk of Parliament to safely store used election materials for a period of 12 months after the election.
In his remarks at the handover ceremony, the MEC chairperson, Justice Dr. Chifundo Kachale said the ballot materials includes voter registers, ballot papers, records from council areas and polling stations and summaries of the results.
“The Malawi Electoral Commission believes it is important to work together to make sure that transparency and accountability remain top priority with each election and the handover of these records allows the commission to achieve that,” Justice Kachale said.
Petitions: Constitutional Court has urgent issues to pronounce itself on monitor.co.ug - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from monitor.co.ug Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.