Mbale Resident High Court judge Dr Farouq Lubega has directed the leadership of the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) to allow Apollo Masika to access the details concerning parents of Matrine Nanzala alias Metrine Nanjala the Namisindwa county Member of Parliament (MP).
In his application, Masiko told Court that allowing him to access the NIRA details concerning Agnes Nelima and Evans Wekesa will help him to prosecute his election petition against Nanzala whom he accuses of not being a Ugandan which makes her unfit to contest as an MP.
In his evidence affidavit, Masiko insisted that Nelima and Wekesa only produced four biological children and Nanzala is not one of them but she is Kenyan according to NIRA documents.
In his ruling, the judge agreed with Masiko and directed NIRA to provide certified copies of all registration details and information about Nelima and her late husband contained in the National Identification Register which information shall be admissible for use as evidence in court.
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The judge stated that the said documents will facilitate court to deliver a just and effective determination of Parliamentary Election Petition.
“In the present application, the Applicant seeks to challenge the election of the 1st Respondent as the Member of Parliament for Namisindwa County Constituency on the grounds that she is not a citizen of the Republic of Uganda and was therefore not qualified to be elected as MP,” the judge stated.
Masiko challenged Nelima’s evidence saying she is a biological mother to Nanzala and only produced four children with Wekesa which was disputed by Nanzala and Nelima.
“The High Court shall, in the exercise of the jurisdiction vested in it by the Constitution, this Act or any written law, grant absolutely or on such terms and conditions as it thinks just, all such remedies as any of the parties to a cause or matter is entitled to in respect of any legal or equitable claim properly brought before it so that, as far as possible, all matters in controversy between the parties may be completely and finally determined and all multiplicities of legal proceedings concerning any of those matters avoided,” the judge stated.
He added that the constitution empowers Court to grant appropriate remedies aimed at facilitating the effective and final resolution of the issues in controversy before it.
“In the circumstances, and given that the documents sought are intended to facilitate the just and proper determination of Parliamentary Election Petition No. 03 of 2026, I find merit in the application and accordingly grant the orders sought,” he added.
It should be remembered that when he was meeting the National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs in Kyankwanzi Leadership Institute, Nanzala pleaded to President Museveni to save her from losing her parliamentary seat on grounds of not being a citizen of Uganda insisting that she was born and grew up in Uganda.
The development comes at a time when Parliament’s appointments Committee has just rejected Victory university vice chancellor professor Lawrance Muganga over citizenship issues.
