By Steven Enatu
SOROTI CITY
Voters in Soroti city east have expressed dismay following the ruling delivered on the 24th May 2022 by the Court of Appeal Judges upholding the High court judgment nullifying the election of Moses Attan as the Soroti City East Member of Parliament.
They say it’s a waste of time and taxpayers money.
According to the judgment read out on Tuesday by the Court of Appeal Registrar Susan Kanyange on behalf of the Justices, the demarcation of boundaries within the constituency was not properly done.
The Court of Appeal Judges are Cheborion Barishaki, Stephen Musota, and Christopher Gashirabake. They ordered the Electoral Commission to conduct by-elections for Soroti City East.
Reacho Aseu, one of the voters in Soroti city east said that the process is stressing and a waste of taxpayers money,
“I feel bad, we are again wasting money, the first election the country spent money, we are here we have problems, economy is hard in the country, there is hunger, they would bring that money we eat,” she stressed.
Daphine Asingwire said that the ruling was not fair to them as voters adding that the boundary issue would have been sorted before wasting taxpayers money to organize an election that themselves are not challenging.
Asingwire noted that the court should have listened to the will of the voters.
“I really think this is not fair, the boundary issue? I really don’t think it counts, before we went for the election, we knew where we were supposed to vote and the candidates then knew. The court should have come down to listen to us as voters. It’s very painful and stressful, “ she narrated.
Tom Okilan, former Mayoral aspirant Soroti city east and also a voter in Soroti city east, Central ward, cell C said he received the information with shock.
“We were expecting the ruling but nullification was not in my mind, I didn’t expect the re-run. The boundary was messed up from day go, you remember the ministry of local government, electoral commission and all the stakeholders met and resolved the issue of the boundaries, now it’s hard to know why some people would go behind to start manipulating the whole thing,” he asked.
Member of Parliament Soroti city East Moses Attan however has congratulated former MP aspirant Soroti city East MP Herbert Edmund Ariko for winning the court of appeal case.
MP Attan said that he welcomes the ruling and will step back to the people’s court to decide on who they want to represent them.
“They had given me the mandate to represent them but some people want to take it away, I will come back to the voters and they will decide. Of course I will ask them to give me the chance so I can finish up what I had started,” he said.
Attan noted that the ruling clears him in matters of boundary issues.
“I have no role in boundary demarcation, electoral commission has been ordered to organize fresh elections and we will go by that. I have lost resources in this case but I take it in good faith, the people of Soroti city east will decide who their MP will be for the five years,” he said.
The judgment arose from an appeal filed by Attan challenging the Soroti High Court decision that had ordered him out of Parliament and allowed a by-election in Soroti City East Constituency following a petition by Herbert Edmund Ariko.
Last year, Soroti High Court Judge Anne Mugenyi nullified the victory of Attan on grounds that his election was conducted in non-existent wards of Aloet and Opiyai.
