By Yusuf Obbo
The High Court, presided over by Justice Patience Rubagumya, has ruled on objections raised over affidavits filed in the election petition filed by Emmanuel Maganda against Hon. Pacis Namuganza, allowing most of the contested affidavits and paragraphs to remain on the court record.
The matter came before court today for two issues — determination of objections raised against affidavits and scheduling of the election petition.
According to John Isabirye, one of the lawyers representing petitioner Emmanuel Maganda, the first respondent’s legal team had objected to some of the affidavits filed by the petitioner.
The petitioner’s lawyers asked court to maintain the contested affidavits and some paragraphs contained in affidavits filed in rejoinder.
In her ruling, Justice Rubagumya found that the affidavits that had been challenged were properly filed and allowed them to remain part of the court record.
The judge also agreed that most of the contested paragraphs in the affidavits in rejoinder arose from issues raised in the petition and subsequently denied by the first respondent.
However, three paragraphs were expunged after the court found that they emanated only from the petition and the response.
Isabirye welcomed the ruling, saying maintaining the affidavits and most of the contested paragraphs would allow court to consider the issues in controversy.
On the other side, lawyer Semanda Ben Ziwa, representing Hon. Pacis Namuganza, said the court had partly upheld the preliminary objections raised by the respondent’s legal team.
He said the court considered objections to several affidavits and documents introduced during the proceedings and ordered that the offending paragraphs be expunged from the court record.
However, he noted that some of the affidavits and documents that had been challenged were allowed to remain on the record.
The parties also completed the scheduling of the petition, agreeing on the issues to be determined by court, the documents to be relied upon and the witnesses who will be cross-examined.
The court has scheduled the hearing of the election petition for Monday and Tuesday, September 28th and 29th, 2026, when the parties are expected to present their respective cases.
