Lawyers of Sulaiman Kidandala Serwadda, the first runner up in Kawempe North parliamentary elections have been given green light by High Court to serve his rival, Muhammad Ssegirinya in Kitalya prisons.
The development follows a move by Kidandala to overturn Ssegirinya’s victory on grounds that he used forged academic qualifications for nomination and subsequent election as Member of Parliament.
Kidandala’s legal team comprising of Caleb Alaka, Kenneth Paul Kakande and Fred Kato have been struggling to serve Ssegirinya who is on remand in Kitalya prisons for inciting violence.
Alaka went to Court seeking permission to serve Ssegirinya in Kitalya prisons or through newspapers, arguing that they had tried in vain to serve Ssegirinya.
Akena, one of the lawyers told the court that they tried reaching Ssegirinya through his known phone number but were informed by his brother that he was locked up at the Central Police Station in Kampala. They went to CPS Kampala to serve Ssegirinya but the Investigating Officer told him to wait and serve him at Buganda Road Court, which remanded him to Kitalya prisons for inciting violence.
The lawyers went to Buganda Road Court but still failed to access the defendant for service.
However, on Monday, Justice Emmanuel Baguma, the Deputy Head of the High Court Civil Division allowed the lawyers to serve Ssegirinya through the Officer in Charge of Kitalya prisons.
The judge further directed the High Court Civil Division Registrar, Jameson Karemani to place another copy of the petition on the court notice board.
Kidandala lost to Ssegirinya in the January 14, 2021 polls. He seeks to nullify the latter’s election on grounds that his academic (O & A ‘level) certificates were forgeries, making him ineligible for election as MP.
According to the petition, Kidandala claims that Ssegirinya used the academic documents belonging to Nampiima Sarah for “O” Level and Nabadda Maureen for “A” level.
