Soroti city East member of parliament Herbert Edmund Ariko has urged residents of Soroti city east to settle down and wait for the court's judgment than fighting following the recently concluded by-elections where he was pronounced victor by the Soroti city returning officer.
Ariko mentioned these remarks shortly after the High court in Soroti city scheduled the hearing of the Soroti city east by-election petition till tomorrow, a petition that was filled by the FDC flagbearer Attan Moses Okia on the 26th, of August.
In his ruling Justice Ssekana gave the petitioner and his legal team up to tomorrow at 11:30 AM to file the additional submissions while adding that other submissions can be done during cross-examination where the case will come for mention tomorrow and setting a date hearing.
‘’Following the petition filled, we responded and today, both our side and the side of the petitioner together with the second respondent (electoral commission) and third correspondent (returning officer) have been given until tomorrow, if there is anything new that each of the sides wants to fill in court, this period is available, tomorrow at 11:00 am, joint scheduling will happen and there after hearing will commence, let’s settle down and wait for the court judgment to be done than fighting as this process will settle everything down’’, Ariko explained.
Moses Attan, through his lawyer in an August 26 petition indicated that there were glaring malpractices, the militarization of the by-election, and detention of his party agents.
Lawyer Patrick Wetaka of the Electoral Commission during an interview on the other hand disagreed with Attan’s team saying the election petition is not about the volumes of the affidavits but rather the evidence in the matter.
It should be noted that Mr.Attan rejected the July 28, 2022 poll results where Ms. Christine Eyuu, the returning officer for Soroti City, who is also a respondent in the petition, on July 28, declared Mr. Herbert Edmund Ariko of National Resistance Movement party as MP-elect for Soroti East Division having garnered 9,407 votes against Mr. Attan’s 8,771. Mr. Pascal Amuriat of Uganda People’s Congress came a distant third with 115 votes pointing out that the by-elections had marred grave irregularities like ballot stuffing, bribery, intimidation, and imprisonment of party leaders by the state machinery.
