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

(9)That my mobilization and campaign included advertisements which were broadcast over radio station.

(10) That it is not true as stated in paragraph 21 of the affidavit of petitioner dated 5/4/200 1 that! was given the motorbike to influence me to vote for the 7c respondent as I was already his supporter, mobiliser and agent.”


In view of the above affidavit which was not rebutted the charge of giving a gift of a motor bike to Sam Kabuga on 26 January 2001 by the respondent has not been proved in order to induce him to vote for him.

There was another complaint of illegal practice raised in paragraph 22 of petitioner’s affidavit where he alleged that respondent at a public rally in Arua on 1 2t February 2001 offered money to voters who attended his rally. It was submitted that there was a video tape recorded which Counsel for petitioner invited us to view.

For the 1st respondent, it was submitted that there was no evidence as to who took the video tape. Therefore Dr. Byamugisha submitted that there was no evidence to support the allegation of this bribery.

It must be noted that if the petitioner intended to rely on video tape, they ought to have laid foundation of how the tape was taken. The person who took the tape should have given evidence and tendered it in court. Otherwise, I think petitioner’s Counsel was not serious when he asked the. court to receive the tape from him and view it, when he was not a witness. Without wasting time, I think this charge of gift giving to voters in Arua on 12/2/2001 was not seriously raised and no attempt was made to prove it. In the result it must fail.

We now turn to another category of gift giving by 1st respondent’s agents. This type of illegal practice is governed by Section 58(6)(c) which provides as follows:

“(6) The election of a candidate as President shall only be annulled on any of the following grounds if proved to the satisfaction of the court.


(a) That an illegal practice or any other offence under this Act was committed in connection with the election by the candidate personally or with his or her knowledge and consent or approval”