Ezrah Kashumbusha.
KAMPALA, February 27, 2024 | The Constitutional Court has scheduled the 18th of April 2024 for the hearing of a case brought by six Democratic Party members challenging their President General, Norbert Mao’s agreement with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
According to the Deputy Registrar of the Court of Appeal, the parties involved are required to file their petitions by the 1st of March 2024. The court order mandates the filing and service of conferencing notes by the specified date, with petitioners instructed to submit their submissions by March 18th, 2024.
The court will then convene for conferencing inter-party on the appointed date at 11 am. Following this session, the outcome will be submitted to the Head of the Court for directives on expediting the petition’s resolution.
The petitioners, including Richard Lumu (Mityana South), John Paul Lukwago Mpalanyi (Kyotera County), Richard Sebamala (Bukoto Central), and Fred Kayondo (Mukono South), challenge Norbert Mao’s agreement with the NRM. They allege that Mao, without consulting the party’s top decision-making body, signed an agreement committing the Democratic Party to support the governance agenda of the NRM, which led to his appointment as the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
The petitioners argue that, as elected members of Parliament on the Democratic Party ticket and members of its top decision-making organ, the agreement will impede their duties, particularly in voting on committee reports and other parliamentary activities. They seek the court’s intervention to declare the agreement null and void.
The agreement between President Yoweri Museveni and Norbert Mao entails Mao’s appointment to a ministerial position, regular meetings between the leadership of both parties to monitor progress, and the NRM’s support for the nomination of a Democratic Party member of parliament to key committee roles.
