KAMPALA: The High Court has on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, issued a warrant of arrest ordering the arrest of City Tycoon Shukla Mukesh if he does not pay the Decree holder costs of the election petition and the applications as sum of UGX 73,050,000#.
In a Court letter addressed to Ahumuza Hillary, T/A Hillary Ojuku & Associates, High Court ordered a peaceful and lawful arrest of Mukesh with all convenience and speed unless the said sum is paid.
“You are further commanded to return this warrant by 30th August, 2032 with an endorsement certifying the day on which and the manner in which it has been executed or the reason why it has not been executed,” read the warrant in part.
In June, the High Court earlier summoned city businessman Shukla Mukesh to show cause why he shouldn’t be arrested over failure to pay about Shs.570 million in court costs.
Mukesh, the Executive Director of Shumuk Aluminium Investment Limited contested for the Nakawa West parliamentary seat and lost to National Unity Platform (NUP) spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi. Mukesh later took Ssenyonyi to court together with the Electoral Commission but his petition was thrown out.
Later, lawyers representing Ssenyonyi, and Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama’s Electoral Commission (EC) demanded that Mukesh pays Shs.570 million as court costs resulting from the election petition.
Ssenyonyi’s lawyers of PACE Advocates successfully convinced Court that Mukesh should pay them a total of Shs.230 million as costs for wasting their time in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The bill comes to Shs.570 million plus damages.
After losing the petition in the High Court, Mukesh appealed the judgement but the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire, Justice Stephen Musota and Justice Christopher Gashirabake ordered Mukesh to pay the two respondents (EC and Ssenyonyi) half of their costs after losing his Appeal where he wanted Ssenyonyi’s victory canceled.
Justice Isaac Muwata of the High Court dismissed Mukesh’s petition noting that even if he won the 8 polling stations where he claims that Ssenyonyi and the EC committed a lot of electoral offences, he wouldn’t have won the race.
Mukesh accused Ssenyonyi of committing offences of ballot stuffing by changing the electoral results and failing to sign the declaration of results forms.
During the process of hearing his petition, Mukesh filed a number of applications which were also dismissed with costs.