High Court judge, Margret Oumo Oguli has dismissed the case filed by the six Opposition MPs who were challenging the manner in which Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga suspended them from the House during the Age Limit Bill debate.
The Speaker of Parliament authoritatively reserves the rights of expulsion should an MP become unruly, rowdy or disorderly during the plenary.
In the ruling read by the Deputy Registrar Joy Kabagye, the judge said she lacked jurisdiction to hear the case since it’s a constitutional matter.
Consequently, the matter was referred to the Constitutional Court and that each side should bare its costs, ruled the judge.
In court, Kadaga was represented by Johnson Natuhwera.
The ruling read by deputy court registrar, Joy Kabagye stated; “I dismiss this application because the court has no jurisdiction to handle the matter. I refer it to the constituional court for interpretation”.
Citing Article 137 of the constitution, Justice Oguli stated that anyone questioning the interpretation of the constitution should take the matter to the Constitutional court which reserves the jurisdiction.
Erias Lukwago, the lawyer for the applicants said he was surprised by the way the matter was conducted.
“I am equally surprised that issue of wrong court jurisdiction can also become a surprise if at all that was the case,” Lukwago commented.
Lukwago termed the manner in which the case was handled as illegal since there were no court proceedings preceding the ruling.
The six MPs who were suspended include Gerald Karuhanga, Allan Ssewanyana, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, Jonathan Odur, Anthony Akol and Mubarak Munyagwa.
Earlier, supporters of Speaker Kadaga rallied outside the court premises holding placards calling on the applicants to “leave Kadaga alone”. They argued that the Speaker followed the correct procedure during the heated Age Limit Bill debate.
