EC wants forgery case referred to law council

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |   The Electoral Commission has asked the High Court Civil Division to refer three lawyers to the Law Council for disciplinary proceedings.

This arises from a case in which city lawyer Steven Kalali accuses the Commission’s lawyers Eric Sabiiti and Hamidu Lugoloobi for allegedly forging his signature.  

Kalali alleges that the EC officials forged his signature in a court document showing that he had accepted that the prisoners and Ugandans in the diaspora would participate in voting in 2026 elections but not in 2021 as earlier ordered by High Court.

In June 2020, when High Court Civil Division Judge Lydia Mugambe ordered the Electoral Commission to put in place mechanisms to ensure that Ugandans abroad and prisoners can participate in the 2021 general elections.

Justice Mugambe’s order followed a petition by Kalali who demanded that each of the prisons in Uganda is declared a registration and polling centre ahead of the 2021 general elections, which the Judge agreed with and accordingly issued orders to that effect.

However, days later, the Electoral Commission through its lawyers led by Lugoloobi and Sabiiti filed an application for review in which the commission argued that due to limited time, they can’t comply to Mugambe’s ruling due to the COVID-19 effects and lack of funds. 

As a result, the court records indicate that the parties settled the matter out of court and agreed that the prisoners and Ugandans in the diaspora can vote in 2026 elections.

Following their agreement,  they appeared in court and a consent order dated July 20, 2020, was endorsed by High Court Judge Esta Nambayo. 

But a month later, in September 2020, Kalali returned to court with a new application in which he denied having appended the signature on the consent order neither his senior lawyer Deogratious Odokel.  

Kalali asked the court to set aside the order in issue citing that it was issued either through misrepresentation or fraud citing he was not in court on the day of endorsement.  

On Friday, both parties met before High Court Judge Esta Nambayo for the hearing of the matter and the Electoral Commission submitted part of its defense to the Judge.  

Lugoloobi says the consent order was done in the presence of Kalali, his lawyers Earnest Isaac Muwanga and Geoffrey Mutyaba.  Lugoloobi says, however, that it is only Kalali’s senior lawyer Odokel who was absent. 

Lugoloobi also says that Kalali and his lawyers after the consent went ahead and carried out further court proceedings such as extracting the court order on costs, paying court fees, filing billing of costs and writing to the commission formally to be paid costs.  

According to the EC, the actions of Kalali indicate acceptance and approval of the consent.

The commission now wants the court to forward Kalali and his lawyers Mutyaba, Muwanga and Odokel to the Law Council for disciplinary action because of intentional abuse of court process and for telling lies. 

But Kalali says the bill of costs was filed by his lawyers from  Odokel and Opolot Advocates who didn’t know that his signature had been forged and he later used another law firm Sebanja and Company Advocates to correct the error.

Court has asked all the parties to put in their written submissions and return on October 21, 2020, to be informed about the date the Judgement will be delivered.

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