The High Court has dismissed an application by Daniel Mulirire seeking to overturn his disqualification from the Budiope East parliamentary race, leaving incumbent Moses Hashim Magogo’s election unopposed intact.
Mulirire asked the court to review an earlier decision upholding his disqualification, arguing that he had been denied a fair hearing because the judge relied on an issue that had not been raised in the original complaint before the Electoral Commission (EC).
The dispute began when voter Yeko Ibrahim challenged Mulirire’s nomination, arguing that he had not submitted a resignation letter from the Uganda Police Force as required for his candidacy. The EC disqualified Mulirire, and the High Court later upheld the decision on appeal, paving the way for Magogo to be elected unopposed.
In his review application, Mulirire argued that the court had gone beyond the original complaint by questioning the authenticity of his resignation letter. He maintained that the dispute concerned whether he had submitted the letter during nomination, not whether the document was genuine.
In the earlier ruling, Justice Simon Peter Kinobe found that there was insufficient evidence to establish that the resignation letter presented by Mulirire had been issued by the relevant Uganda Police authorities.
Mulirire described this finding as an apparent error in the court record and asked the judge to reconsider the decision. He also submitted a newly certified letter in support of his application.
However, Justice Kinobe rejected the request, ruling that Mulirire was attempting to challenge the substance of the earlier judgment through a review rather than using the appropriate legal procedure.
The judge said Mulirire wanted the court to reconsider the evidence, interpret the law differently, examine the newly submitted document and reverse its earlier decision. He explained that a review application could not be used to reopen a case simply because a party disagreed with the court’s findings.
Justice Kinobe added that submitting a certified document after the original proceedings did not, on its own, provide sufficient grounds for a review. He also noted that Mulirire had failed to demonstrate that the new evidence could not have been obtained and presented earlier despite reasonable efforts.
The judge further questioned why Mulirire had waited seven months after the elections to file the application, noting that he had not adequately explained the delay. He said the application appeared to circumvent the legal procedures and strict deadlines governing election disputes.
According to Justice Kinobe, the relief Mulirire was seeking could only be pursued through an election petition, not a review application.
The court consequently dismissed the application and ordered Mulirire to pay the legal costs incurred by Magogo and the Electoral Commission.
