Christopher Acire, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gulu Municipality has dragged the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party to court over its failure to conduct primary elections for the flag bearer for Aswa County parliamentary seat.
In his petition No. 157/2015, filed at Gulu High Court, Acire, a member of FDC is demanding that court should order FDC to conduct primary elections instead of handpicking a candidate. FDC had without party primaries chosen incumbent MP Reagan Okumu as its candidate.
Through his lawyers Luganda, Ojok and Co. Advocates, Acire alleges that his party did not follow the procedures in choosing the party flag bearer.
Acire’s lawyer Alex Candia, argued that when his client questioned why the party was not organisation primary election, he (Acire) was informed that the primary for Aswa had been postponed. Candia said that no specific date and time was given on when the election would be conducted and yet nomination is set for the 3rd and 4th of December. He accordingly asked court to nominate Acire since he is the only one who has picked nomination form for the party primary for Aswa County.
Acire’s lawyers also asked court to restrain the independent national election commission from nominating Okumu, the incumbent Aswa County MP as the official flag bearer since the due process to elect him was not followed.
The lawyers also questioned the motive of the FDC in suspending the party primaries describing it as unlawful and accordingly asked for interim order blocking Okumu from being nominated as flag bearer.
Bena Mutamba, the lawyer representing FDC’s dismissed all the allegations arguing the party can even organize an election on Wednesday ahead of nomination set for Thursday this week.
In her ruling on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Margret Mutonyi, the Gulu High Court judge ordered that both Acire and Okumu should be allowed to nominate as FDC flag bearers pending the ruling of the court.
Justice Mutonyi says the confusion in the FDC should not deprive the electorates in Aswa from exercising their rights in electing their representative in parliament.
She added that court will decide who will the official flag bearer for the party in Aswa.
The judge set December 18, 2015 as the date she will make a ruling on the petition.
