First deputy prime minister and minister for East African Community affairs Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga has blasted her nemesis Proscovia Salaamu Musumba after the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) vice president for eastern Uganda withdrew her petition in Kamuli District Woman MP election.
Musumba lost to Kadaga in the January 14 parliamentary election.
The FDC strong woman then challenged the victory of the then speaker of Parliament in the High Court at Jinja.
Musumba told court that Kadaga and the Electoral Commission (EC) engaged in several electoral malpractices that made her lose.
In her preliminary objection, Kadaga, through her lawyer John Mary Mugisha, filed a miscellaneous application seeking orders dismissing the petition which she said was baseless.
In a twist of events, as courts began hearing petitions from the 2021 elections, Musumba and her lawyer
John Isabirye appeared before Jinja Court to withdraw the petition.
Both Kadaga’s and Musumba’s lawyers later agreed to the withdrawal of the petition.
In the end, Justice Issa Sserunkuma officially recalled the petition. Sserunkuma also ordered Musumba’s lawyers to orally submit their application to withdraw the petition. The judge further directed that Musumba pays Kadaga costs incurred in the petition.
After the court session, Musumba said she had withdrawn her petition in the interest of peace and unity in Busoga sub-region.
She insisted she had a strong case backed by watertight evidence to floor Kadaga whom she accused of torturing FDC agents, and bribing voters.
She went on to claim Kadaga had continued to threaten the witnesses in the case.
But Kadaga labelled Musumba a mafia agent who would find it difficult to prove to court that she had been rigged out since there was a huge vote margin between her and the former speaker.
“I am honoured to have been represented by Star studded team of JM Mugisha, C Alaka , E Ocieng, E Okuo in demolishing the fictitious, concocted, mafia sponsored and backed petition of Salaamu Musumba,” she said.
“You cannot overturn a margin of over 60, 000 votes.”
