High Court in Gulu has nullified the election of Hon. Christopher Komakech, the Member of Parliament for Aruu County Constituency in Pader District on grounds of not abiding by the law while getting nominated by the Electoral Commission to contest for the parliamentary position.
Justice Asiimwe Tadeo found that MP Komakech committed the said illegal practices, which was sufficient cause for annulling his election. This means Aruu county will be going back to polls. He said it was established that Komaketch addressed his resignation letter to a wrong office.
In the 2021 January polls, Odonga lost the bid to retain the Aruu County parliamentary seat for the fifth term after losing to Komakech, an Independent candidate who scored 9,327 votes against Odonga’s 5,953.
Odonga Otto decided to challenge Komakech’s victory on grounds that he was irregularly nominated. In his petition, Otto
alleged that Komakech did not resign from Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital where he worked and that he continued to receive salaries and allowances from the ministry even while he campaigned.
“The law required that all those running for parliamentary elections ought to have resigned from public office by July 12, 2020, but Mr Komakech did not submit the requisite resignation papers at the time of his nominations,” the petition reads in part.
Otto also claimed that Komakech continued to receive salary/allowances from the Consolidated Fund until October 2020 because he was still employed by the government.
The Electoral Commission guidelines issued for nomination of Members of Parliament, dated June 16, 2020, provided that a person shall not be regarded as duly nominated and shall be regarded as void if the requirement for resignation from public office within the prescribed timeline by law is not complied with before nomination day.
Through his social media, Otto has celebrated court’s decision as he tweeted; “HIGH COURT NULLIFIES ARUU ELECTIONS. After going through :Harassment during campaigns, detaining my car for 90 days, remand to Gulu to prison, going to Nairobi Hospital after poison, Justice ASIMWE TADEO nullifies Aruu elections. I see Gods hands through him. I am all in tears,”
Otto has been representative of Aruu County since 2001.