Africa-Press – Uganda. The Electoral Commission (EC) list of newly-elected legislators of the 11th Parliament has caused uproar in Ngora District after the name of Ms Juliet Achayo Lodou, who came second in the January 14 MP elections, appeared in the EC records as the next MP for Ngora County.
Mr Peter Toddu, the Ngora District returning officer, declared Mr David Abala as the MP-elect for Ngora County on January 15 after he garnered 8,317 votes against his close rival Achayo, who polled 7,813 votes.
Ms Achayo contested the outcome, filing an election petition for a recount at Soroti Magistrate’s Court, which Judge Monica Amuno threw out for lack of evidence.
However, upon reading the names that were published in the Daily Monitor of February 8, quoting data from the EC, the people of Ngora County accused the EC of corruption.
“We know the game plan behind this, we shall hold EC accountable for being used to subvert the will of the people of Ngora,” Mr Mark Okello, one of Mr Abala’s campaign agents, told Daily Monitor yesterday.
After Mr Toddu declared Mr Abala winner, he handed the incoming legislator a certificate as MP-elect for Ngora County, a copy of which this paper has seen. EC speaks out When contacted to comment on the matter, Mr Paul Bukenya, the EC spokesperson, said he was yet to see the list published by Daily Monitor.
He, however, confirmed that the list this newspaper published is the authentic one.
“Those are the ascertained results of the election,” he said.
Mr Bukenya added that the election process was ‘still on’.
Mr Abala’s lawyer, Mr Phillip Engulu, said: “This is false information, the declared MP for Ngora County is David Abala.”
He said they have written to EC’s legal department about the matter. [email protected]
