Days to the 2026 presidential elections, seven justices of the Supreme Court led by Justice Lilian Tibatemwa dismissed a petition filed by a concerned Ugandan who was seeking to block Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama’s Electoral Commission (EC) from presiding over the said election.
Without a lawyer, Patrick Mukisa claimed that the Electoral Commission (EC), the Attorney General and the incumbent President Museveni violated the orders issued in the 2016 presidential elections petition filed by former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi noting that Supreme Court should order the defendants to implement the said orders before the execution of fresh elections.
However, the judges dismissed the petition on grounds that the applicant lacked locus to file an application related to a presidential election petition since he was not a presidential candidate
As the judges delivered their ruling, Mukisa pleaded with them not to slap him with costs explaining that he filed the petition in good faith as a concerned citizen who fights for rule of law in the country.
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“My lordships, as you see me here, I don’t have money. I even walked from my home to here. That’s why I didn’t hire a lawyer to represent me, please don’t award costs to the defendants,” Mukisa pleaded.
Even though Ugandans always file public interest cases like that of Mukisa, this website can authoritatively report that Mukisa filed the said petition to lure Museveni one of the parties into looking for him to give him money so that he withdraws the matter from court.
This reporter was present when Mukisa was filing the said petition. He was advised by court clerks to look for a lawyer to help him to prosecute the matter because he was going to face powerful lawyers like Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, Museveni’s lawyers lead by his son-in-law Edwin Karugire, Ussam Ssebuufu, Electoral Commission lawyers lead by Eric Sabiiti among others.
“I cannot talk to that man Mabirizi (lawyer Male Mabirizi) because he is very clever, he can steal my case. This case is my only opportunity to move out of poverty, I know Museveni is scared, he is going to send his people to talk to me and the only option will be to withdraw it if he gives me money,” Mukisa said
When asked how he was going to serve Museveni with court documents, he first boasted that he was going to deliver them to him at one of his political rallies. He was however advised that Museveni’s Special Forces Command (SFC) guards will arrest him
“Now, I got another plan, let me take these documents to the NRM headquarters on Kyadondo Road,” he added
Instead of receiving Museveni’s phone call pleading with him to withdraw the petition, Mukisa received scheduling documents from court and responses from all the defendants
As he did to Moses Bigirwa the secretary general of the Common Man’s Party (CMP) when he tried to sue Museveni seeking a court order subjecting him to medical examination to establish his rightful age, Kiwanuka who was president Museveni’s personal lawyer asked for the dismissal of the application with costs which the court did, he prayed for the same but Supreme Court justices saved Mukisa on grounds that the petition was of a public litigation nature.
When Ono Bwino contacted him on how he feels after missing Museveni’s cash, Mukisa just diverted this reporter by making allegation that he was cheated by court claiming that he filed the said application to save National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) and his supporters from violence from security agencies.
Lawyers and litigators were very bitter with Kiwanuka’s appointment as the Attorney General because they allege that he frustrated their fraudulent deals of conniving with government lawyers to sue the government and settle the matter out of court where they always received heavy compensation from government on taxpayers money.
