Uganda’s Attorney General insists that beleaguered Kampala City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago’s impeachment is still valid despite the High Court quashing the decision by KCCA councilors to kick him out of City Hall.
Kampala Minister on Thursday revealed his intention to appeal the High Court’s decision that reinstated Lukwago as mayor.
In a special council meeting chaired by Frank Tumwebaze, 29 councillors voted in favour of removing Mr Lukwago. Three councillors opposed the motion.
On Thursday, the High Court in Kampala ruled that embattled Lukwago be reinstated at City Hall pending determination of his main application.
However, AG Peter Nyombi says the resolution passed by the KCCA councilors removing Lukwago from the Office of The Lord Mayor remains valid.
Below is his full statement on the matter;
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S STATEMENT ON THE CASE OF ERIAS LUKWAGO VERSUS THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND THE TRIBUNAL INVESTIGATING THE PETITION AGAINST THE LORD MAYOR VIDE MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION 445 OF 2013.
28th November 2013 This afternoon, High Court Justice Yasin Nyanzi granted the former Lord Mayor Mr. Erias Lukwago the following reliefs:-
1. An interim injunction restraining the Minister in charge of Kampala Capital City from acting on the report of the KCCA tribunal.
2. An interim injunction restraining the Attorney General and the Minister in charge of Kampala Capital City and the KCCA Councillors from proceeding with the vote for his removal from office.
3. An interim injunction restraining the Attorney General and/or the Minister for Kampala Capital City from convening a meeting of KCCA to discuss the tribunal report. 4. Costs of the application. The background to this ruling is as follows:-
The former Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago filed an application against the Attorney General and the tribunal investigating the petition against the Lord Mayor vide Miscellaneous Application 445 of 2013, seeking the above interim orders.
By this time, the Minister for Kampala had convened a meeting of the Authority scheduled for the 25th of November at 9.00 a.m. at KCCA Authority chambers. On the said date, the Authority councillors in attendance voted on a resolution to remove the Lord Mayor from office.Twenty nine Authority councillors voted in favour of the Lord Mayor`s removal and three voted against.
The Lord Mayor ceased to hold office at 9.30 a.m. when the said resolution was passed by the Authority. On the same day the Assistant Registrar of the High Court issued an interim order that sought to stop the process of impeachment of The Lord Mayor. Unfortunately, by the time the order was issued and communicated, the process of impeachment had been completed.
This position was communicated in my letter to the Court on 26th November 2013 and in the State Attorney’s address to the Learned Judge before the Court delivered its ruling today. The Court however felt it was better to deal with the application and the facts as they stood when the application was filed on 20th November 2013 ie. as if the meeting in which the Lord Mayor was impeached had not taken place.
The interim injunction has thus been issued today, the 28th of November 2013 seeking to stop the meeting that occurred on 25th November 2013. The interim injunction is therefore impossible to implement as we cannot stop a meeting that has already occurred.
Infact the seat of the Lord Mayor has already been declared vacant and the Electoral Commission has accordingly been notified in accordance with the law. None of the reliefs granted to Mr. Erias Lukwago by the High Court requires his reinstatement to the office of Lord Mayor.
The resolution passed by the KCCA councillors removing Mr. Lukwago from the office of The Lord Mayor remains valid. Much as it is the obligation and desire of this office to implement all orders of Court, the fact that the orders have been issued after the authority meeting has taken place and resolution for removal has been passed, this makes the orders unenforceable.
I am however taking steps to have the order discharged by the Courts.
Hon. Peter Nyombi
ATTORNEY GENERAL
