“Court should restore the will of the people of Nakaseke,” NUP’s Esther Nakawooya

Former National Unity Platform party flag bearer for the Nakaseke woman Member of Parliament seat, Esther Nakawooya has reiterated her commitment to fighting through the courtroom in a bid to secure what she terms as the ‘people’s victory.’

Nakawooya, a former contender in the Nakaseke woman MP polls is in court challenging the victory of the ruling NRM party candidate Sarah Najjuma who is on her third consecutive term. In her petition, Nakawooya cites a span of electoral malpractices including inconsistent Declaration Forms, voter intimidation, malpractice and the alleged connivance between Hon. Najjuma Sarah and the Electoral Commission Returning Officer for Nakaseke who allegedly declared her a winner despite having lost the polls in the tallies at multiple polling stations.

According to our findings, Najjuma and her team forged Declaration Forms in order to ensure that they can corroborate their doctored version with the Electoral Commission.

Addressing journalists on the sidelines of the Lucero High court, Nakawooya who is being represented by senior counsel Kenneth Paul Kakande from Alaka and Co. Advocates vowed to fight with all her night to ensure that her hard work yields.

“I and my team of lawyers will use the courtroom as our arena to ensure that the people of Nakaseke get back their victory. We are not going to give up till we reclaim our victory,” she vowed. “The will of the people of Nakaseke will prevail. We have faith that the court will do the right thing and restore the win that the people of Nakaseke secured through Esther Nakawooya,” she added.

According to the tallying, Esther Nakawooya was in a comfortable lead during the January 15th polls but by the nightfall, the Returning Officer declared the incumbent Sarah Najjuma with 55,455 votes against Nakawooya’s 26,873 votes. This was after a full scale ballot stuffing and a military involvement in the polling process to ensure that Najjuma, a daughter to the now deceased UPDF Rtd. Maj. Sulaymaniyah Sserunjogi is declared winner. Witnesses at the Nakaseke District office say Hon. Sarah Najjuma went an extra mile of bribing the Returning officer with UGX 100m to influence her declaration.