By Benjamin Jumbe.
The deputy attorney general Mwesigwa Rukutana has asked court to dismiss an application by one of the age limit petitioners Male Mabirizi seeking to have the Speaker of Parliament appear before court.
Making a submission this morning at the Mbale High Court, Mabiziri asked court to have the speaker summoned for cross examination, arguing that she was at the center of the age limit debate from which all cases arise.
However, Rukutana says the parliament powers and privileges Act chapter 258 section 25 protects the speaker from any prosecution by any court, asking that the application be dismissed
Mabirizi however maintained that the section being quoted was null and void.
Earlier, four of the nine petitions were dismissed during the preliminary hearing for want of prosecution as neither the petitioners’ advocates nor any representative has showed up in court despite evidence of their official stamp on court documents confirming receipt of hearing notices.
Some litigants including a one Benjamin Alipanga and People’s Development Party president Abed Bwanika said they had lost interest in pursuing their petitions because they had been over taken by events.