In trouble! High Court slaps UGX. 570m costs on city businessman Shumuk in failed polls petition

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

KAMPALA — The High Court has summoned city businessman Shukra Mukesh to show cause why he shouldn’t be arrested over failure to pay about Shs 570 million in court costs.

Mr. Mukesh contested for the Nakawa West parliamentary seat and lost to National Unity Platform (NUP) spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi.

He later took him to court together with the Electoral Commission but his petition was thrown out.

Now, lawyers representing Mr. Ssenyonyi, and Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama’s Electoral Commission (EC) have demanded that he pays Shs.570m as court costs resulting from the election petition.

High Court Civil Division Deputy Registrar Jameson Karemani has now summoned Mr. Mukesh to show cause why he shouldn’t be jailed for failing to pay the said Court costs.

Ssenyonyi’s lawyers of PACE Advocates successfully convinced Court that Mukesh should pay them a total of Shs.230m as costs for wasting their time in both the High Court and at the Court of Appeal.

The bill comes to Shs 570 million plus damages.

After losing the petition in the High Court, Mr. Mukesh appealed the judgement but the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire, Justice Stephen Musota and Justice Christopher Gashirabake ordered Mukesh to pay the two respondents (EC and Ssenyonyi) half of their costs after losing his Appeal where he wanted Ssenyonyi’s victory canceled.

Justice Isaac Muwata of the High Court dismissed Mukesh’s petition noting that even if he won the 8 polling stations where he claims that Ssenyonyi and the EC committed a lot of electoral offences, he wouldn’t have won the race.

Mukesh accused Mr. Ssenyonyi of committing offences of ballot stuffing by changing the electoral results and failing to sign the declaration of results forms.
During the process of hearing his petition, Mukesh filed a number of applications which were also dismissed with costs.