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3. It was given with the intention of inducing the person to vote.
Mr. Babigumira submitted further that there was nothing to show that Ochwo was a registered
voter, which could have been proved by a voter’s card. He made reference to the authority of
Amama Mbabazi & Anor. V. Musinguzi Garuga James, Election Petition Appeal No. 12 of
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2002 in which it was stated that, bribery required cogent evidence, which was missing in this case.
In his view, the trial judge erred to have reached the conclusion that Agnes Ochwo was a registered
voter or that he was an agent of the appellant.
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In respect of the issue of disenfranchisement, learned counsel faulted the trial judge for having
included cancelled votes in the total results or for using the yard stick of the total number of
registered voters because not all of them would turn up to vote, or vote for only the respondent. The
judge did not even consider that there would be spoilt votes.
20
While the trial judge blamed the returning officer for using the total number of votes in 17 polling
stations, in his judgment he used the same votes in calculations. The returning officer having
cancelled the results in the 2 polling stations, it was irregular for the trial judge to have considered
them because their inclusion would affect the results in a substantial manner. To support his
argument, he cited the case of Edward Byaruhanga Katumba V. Electoral Commission &
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Siraje Nkugwa Kizito, Election Petition Appeal No. 17 of 2002.
In conclusion, counsel submitted that the learned trial judge did not take into account the registered
voters who did not come to vote. Even if the total number of voters in the 15 polling stations were
included, the respondent did not prove that failure to include votes in the 15 polling station affected
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the results in a substantial manner. He generally referred us to his scheduling notes and prayed that
the appeal be allowed with costs here and in the High Court.
Submissions for the respondent;
In reply, Mr. Ambrose Tebyasa, counsel for the respondent submitted that he was in support of the
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decision of the lower court. The learned trial judge properly evaluated the evidence before he
reached his decision. Proof of one incident of bribery may be sufficient to annul the results. The
judge evaluated various allegations of bribery and dismissed all except the bribery committed by
Alex Onyango Obbo to Ochwo Agnes. The trial judge was satisfied that Ochwo Agnes was bribed
3