Rtd. Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye, who was 1st runner-up in the February 18 presidential poll, has dismissed the Supreme Court’s dismission of the petition filed by former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’ against the process and results of the said presidential election.
Speaking at his home in Kasangati where Police has held him under a kind of house arrest since the election, Besigye dismissed the entire dispensation under which the country presently is, saying unless there is a change of regime even institutions like court will never function properly.
“Any court process under the current legal framework in the country now is not a process which can offer a meaningful verdict. The framework of examining an election in the framework of Uganda is very effective.”
Besigye also indicated that what Mr. Mbabazi’s request to the supreme Court to have the February 18 election annulled is not what he would have requested the same court to do if he hadn’t been hampered from filing his own petition.
“I would have gone to court to ask it to announce the rightful winner of the elections. Mbabazi’s petition has totally no consequence to the legitimacy of Mr. Museveni. If the court had ruled to annul the election, it would not be the verdict I would be looking for.
“I don’t think Mr. Mbabazi was expected to be the one filing a petition and I’m not trying to downplay his actions, but I think the one closest to the winner always has the best chance of successfully challenging a rigged election.”
Mr. Mbabazi’s petition to the supreme court to have the February 18 election annulled was this morning dismissed, with all nine judges voting against it. It is the first time every judge on the bench in an electoral petition in Uganda has ruled against a petition by a presidential candidate.