The republic of uganda in the supreme court of uganda at kampala

Affidavit of Musisi Francis of Lugolole, Baitambagwe in Mayuge District:

2. 
   That I was appointed as a polling agent at Baitambagwe for the petitioner.
   
3. 
   That on 12th march 2001, I reported to the said station at 6:00 a.m. only to find that voting exercise which was a scheduled to start at 7:00 a.m. had already started in the absence of all the other polling agents for the different candidates.”
   

Affidavit of Sam Kakuru:
“(2) That I was registered to vote at Karuhinda in Kirime Kanungu District.

(12) That on 12tk March 2001 I met people singing “No change. Kaguta” who chased me back to my home at 5:00 a.m.

(14) That at 6:30 a.m. I left and arrived at the polling station where I found people already voting. I asked for my ballot paper and voted.

(16) Thereafter I showed my letter of appointment as a polling agent. The presiding officer ordered me to sit far from the agents table, saying the table was for Government people not us “rebels “

(17) That the presiding officer and other polling officials started ticking ballot papers for people on the table. I objected and was manhandled and beaten when police were looking on helplessly.


(18) I was chased away from the polling station. I went home until around 5:00 p.m. when I saw a group of Museveni supporters coming for me to go and sign. I refused to go. I entered my house. They threatened to burn my house….

Affidavit of Oliver Karinkiza states as follows:

(2)That I was the Presiding Officer at Lwebitakuli polling station on 12/3/2001.

(3) That I have carefully read and understood the affidavit of Moses Babikinamu in support of the petition and I respond as follows:

(4) That it is not true that I was a campaigner for the 1^st respondent.

(5) That on 12/3/20011 the voting commenced at 7:00 am and not at 6:30 am as alleged by Babikinamu.

(9) That the said MP for Mawogola Sam Kutesa came to the polling station in the afternoon and not at 10:00 am as alleged.

(10) That the voting exercise was peaceful and orderly and I never heard any body complain.

(11) That the number of people who voted at the polling station were 510 and this was in the presence of polling agents for both candidates.

(12) That after counting Babikinamu confirmed the results and willingly signed.

(13) That it is not true that I threatened Babikinamu with arrest.


The affidavit of Moses Babikinamu shows in paragraph 5 that when he reported to the polling station of Lwebitakuli, in Sembabule at 6:30 a.m., he found voting had already started. When he asked the presiding officer why they started voting before official time of 7:00 am, she told him to sit and do what she was supposed to do. Between 7:00 am. and 5:00 pm only 160 people voted; but after counting all the ballot papers, the total number of voters cast were 510. Although he protested, he was forced to sign the declaration forms for fear for his life.

The affidavit of Bernard Masiko Paragraph 8 shows that he arrived at the polling station with petitioner’s agents at 6:00 a.m, he found voting already in progress.

Kakuru Sam and Francis Musisi’s affidavits shows voting started before 7:00 am.

Oliver Karikiza, presiding officer of Lwebitakuli denied in her affidavit that polling did not start before 7:00 am I rejected her denial as an after thought. I do accept the evidence in the affidavit of Babikinamu, because I would not expect the presiding officer to swear admitting having infringed the law.

Clearly, in certain polling stations polling commenced before 7:00 a.m and this was on infringement of S.29 (2)(5) of the Act.

4. Another complaint was stuffing of ballot boxes with ballot papers. It was alleged that this contravened section 30(7) of the Act. I must state that the petitioner never raised this stuffing of ballot boxes in his affidavit in support of his petition. However, Bernard Masiko from Rukungiri, Stanley Bugando from Kanungu and Babikinamu from Sembabule stated in their affidavits that ballot boxes at their respective polling stations were stuffed with ballot papers before voting commenced and that voting commenced without opening the boxes for public to view if they were devoid of any ballot papers. But Moses Mwesigye from Kanungu and Oliver Karinkiza from Sembabule denied such practice.

However, on 6^th April 2001, the petitioner in paragraph 39 raised the issue in support of complaint of ballot box stuffing in his argumentative affidavit, after he had quoted six cases where the number of ballot papers issued, those cast and those unused do not tally or make sense. For instance, in the case of lshaka Adventist College, Igara county in Bushenyi, the number of ballot papers issued were 477. These were equivalent to the number of ballot papers counted. Yet 253 ballot papers were unused.

In paragraph 39 the petitioner concluded that the above act (acts) constituted ballot stuffing that characterised the election Countrywide.

With due respect, I think it would be difficult to conclude from such forms that there were ballot stuffing without calling one of the Presiding Officials and polling agents who filled those forms to court and throwing light on what he or they meant. I think, as I stated when I was discussing affidavits, this is one of the problems of trying a case of this magnitude relying only on affidavits.

However, in addition to Babikinamu and Stanley Bugando, there were affidavits of Bernard Masiko, Kakuru Sam and Francis Musisi which stated that voting commenced before 7:00 am when there were no petitioner’s polling agents. I would in the circumstance state that the evidence of ballot stuffing given by Babikinamu and Bugando is by inference confirmed from the evidence of Masiko Bernard, Kakuru Sam and Francis Musisi who stated voting commenced before 7:00 am. In my view, the presiding officers started voting before the official time laid down by statute and in the absence of petitioner’s polling agents, because they did not want the ballot papers stuffed in the boxes to be seen.

I therefore rejected the denial by Karinkiza and Mwesigye. In the result, it was proved to the satisfaction of the court that in a limited number of polling stations, there were ballot stuffing of ballot boxes before polling commenced.

5. Another complaint concerned multiple voting. It was alleged that 2’ respondent’s agents/servants with full knowledge permitted people who had already voted to vote again. The affidavits of the following deponents show that people who had already voted, voted again. The presiding officer was not bothered about multiple voting.

In the affidavit of one Change Gideon from Kabale he averred as follows:-