Bishop Patrick Okabe, has today lost his seat as the Member of Parliament for Serere County after High Court in Soroti nullified the election over violation of electoral laws and lack of academic qualifications.
Bishop Okabe, the National Resistance Movement - NRM party candidate was dragged to Court alongside the electoral commission by one of the contenders Joseph Linos Opio, a member of the Uganda People's Congress-UPC party who had his particulars omitted from the ballot paper and as such recorded 0 votes.
Initially, Okabe had won the seat with 23,949 votes beating the incumbent legislator Ochola Stephen who polled 18,091 votes, Odongo Francis who secured 948 votes and Opolot Daniel who garnered 464.
Opio’s omission from the ballot paper forced him to petition court and challenge the Electoral Commission claiming he was dully nominated and his voters were denied a right to choose him as their leader. He also told Court that Okabe’s academic papers were wanting.
Today, in a ruling read by Court Registrar Tumwebaze Ayebare on behalf of Justice Billy Kainamura, court nullified Okabe’s election on grounds that “Opio and his supporters were denied a right to vote for the candidate of their choice when his name did not appear on the ballot paper, despite being dully nominated by the Electoral Commission.”
The judge also said the Electoral Commission grossly violated electoral laws when they omitted Opio’s names and symbols yet he was dully nominated.
As for inconsistencies in Bishop Patrick Okabe's academic papers, Court found that they had different names recorded as Patrick Okabe on some and as Ochen Oliba Patrick on others. This prompted the judge to rule that he did not qualify to be nominated and elected as a Member of Parliament because the papers he presented belong to two individuals.
Okabe's lead lawyer Moses Kimuli says he was not satisfied with the ruling promised to appeal.
Opio's supporters on the other hand were delighted with the outcome saying the judgment will give them opportunity to elect an ideal representative for the post.
