Rumanyika v. Bagoka and the Attorney – General Misc. Civ. Case 1-M-71; 20/4/71; El-Kindy Ag. J.

Rumanyika v. Bagoka and the Attorney – General Misc. Civ. Case 1-M-71; 20/4/71; El-Kindy Ag. J.

        This is an application for extension of time for filing an amended petition, which seeks to challenge the election results of the district Council of Karagwe. The applicant alleged that at the final nomination of candidates by the Branch executive Meeting the Divisional secretary had made false statements that the applicant was against he establishment of Ujamaa Villages and thus his name was dropped from the list of candidates. The District Council elections were held on the 30/10/70. On 27/11/70 the applicant wrote to the registrar High Court of Mwanza a letter of complaint which was answered by the Registrar explaining the proper procedure to be followed and the time of limitation for filing a petition which was 30 days. The application was opposed by the Attorney General on the grounds: (a) that the Election act No. 25/70 had not provided for filing a petition or amended petition out of time and before the court could extend time under s. 93 of the Civil Procedure Code, the time must have been given first by the court, but in this case time was given by statute; (b) that the petition did not disclose sufficient grounds of complaint as the amended petition did not disclose irregularities which took place during election. The irregularities at a secondary nomination cannot be made the subject of a petition as the nominations are made in camera. Moreover the proceedings at a secondary nomination cannot by s. 123(2) Elections act 1970 be challenged in any court of law.

                        Held: (1) [Quoting s. 120(1) of the Elections act 25/1970 which states that every election petition shall be presented within one month of the date of publication in the Gazette of the result of the election]. “Hence the time limit in general and local authority elections in which petitions can be brought is fixed as one month from the date of publication in the Gazette. It would appear therefore that time does not start to run against a petitioner until the results have been published. In this case I have searched through all the official Gazette copies from the time the local authority election was held at Nyabiyonza Ward VIII to this date, and I could not find anywhere that such results have been published as required by law. Therefore, the inevitable conclusion that until now time has not yet began to run against the applicant and therefore it was not necessary for him to apply to this court for leave to file an amended petition after the expiration of 30 days.” (2) By section 123(2) of the Elections act 25/1970 the proceedings of inter alia a Brach Executive committee which is held for the purposes of the act “shall not be subject to review in any court, either by way of an election petition or otherwise.” Therefore the proceedings at the secondary nominations were not open to challenge or alternatively the application does not sufficiently disclose grounds for complaint. (3) Application rejected.