Supreme Court kicks-off Zaake’s case against Constitutional Court ruling

By Elizabeth Ankunda

28^th Feb 2024

The case in which parliament appealed against the constitutional court order for reinstating Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament Francis Zaake as a commissioner of parliament has commenced at the Supreme Court. 

In March 2022, Zaake petitioned court challenging the decision to remove him from the position of commissioner of parliament on the allegations of using social media platforms to insult Speaker Anita Among and later the same court ruled in favour of Zaake ordering the government to pay half of his costs.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the Speaker breached the rules of National Justice when she acted as a judge in her case by continuing to preside over parliament in sessions regarding Zaake.

It also ruled that parliament breached its own rules of procedures in adopting the motion and resolution to remove zaake from the office of parliamentary commissioner.

Following the Constitutional Court decision, Sam Tusubira from the Attorney General’s chamber appealed to the Supreme Court to quash the decision made by the Constitutional Court and also filed an application for a stay of execution and seeking interim orders in the constitutional court.

On Wednesday, the matter started before the Supreme Court, Justice Night Tuhaise who has ordered the Attorney General to put in their submissions not beyond 18th March 2024 and the other side of Zaake also to file their response by 24th of the same month. Then, the court will give the date for its ruling.

After the court proceedings, Zaake’s lawyers led by Erias Lukwago faulted parliament for removing Zaake without quorum, amending the committee report and the order paper to include a resolution of his suspension.

Meanwhile, Zaake has revealed that since the Constitutional Court reinstated him as a parliamentary commissioner, parliament has since blocked him from accessing his office.