High Court to Deliver Verdict in Soroti East Division By-election Petition

The High Court in Soroti will deliver its judgment in the recently concluded Soroti East Division MP by-election today, Friday, January 20.

This was revealed by the Court Registrar in a notice served to the participating counsels.

A final verdict on the matter is expected at midday, court said.

“TAKE NOTICE that this case has been fixed for JUDGEMENT on the [Friday, January, 20] day of 2023 at noon/O’clock or soon thereafter as the Mention and of this matter can commence before this honourable Court,” the registrar wrote.

“IF NO APPEARANCE is made by yourself, pleader, or by someone authorized by law to act on your behalf, Court may proceed and mention may be given in your absence. Given under my hand and the seal of this Court this, Thursday, January 20, day of 2023,” the registrar added.

National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s Herbert Edmund Ariko was declared the winner of the hotly contested by-election which pitted him against Forum for Democratic Change’s Moses Attan Okia.

However, Attan through his lawyer J Byamukama of JByamukama & co advocates, in an August 26 petition indicated that there were malpractices of the by-election and detention of his party agents.

Christine Eyuu, the returning officer for Soroti City, who is also a respondent in the petition, on July 28, declared Ariko of the National Resistance Movement party as MP for Soroti East Division having garnered 9,407 votes against Attan’s 8,771.

Pascal Amuriat of Uganda Peoples Congress came a distant third with 115 votes.

Attan, who was elected MP for Soroti East Division in 2021, was thrown out of Parliament by the Court of Appeal in May 2022 on grounds that his election was conducted within unspecified boundaries.