High court judge, Michael Elubu has declined to reverse his earlier order to legislators to return Shs 10 billion they received for Covid-19 activities to public coffers.
Elubu said the law doesn't permit him to reopen a matter he heard and issued final orders. His ruling stemmed from an application filed on Monday by the parliamentary legal team led by Sitinah Cherotich, arguing that the order extracted on April 29, contained errors since it didn't reflect the exact wording from the court proceedings.
The team had argued that the order signed by Elubu had to be drafted in accordance with the guidelines issued by the speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga on April 23 in connection to the Shs 20 million issued to each legislator.
Kadaga had directed that the legislators spend the money on Covid-19 related activities under the watch of district task forces and provide accountability to the clerk to parliament but also copy in chief administrative officers in their respective districts.
Cherotich argued that it was wrong for court to concur with MP Gerald Karuhanga's proposal to channel the monies to public accounts of the parliamentary commission, national or district task forces. Karuhanga and fellow MP Jonathan Odur sued parliament challenging the manner in which the money was allotted to the MPs from the supplementary budget.
The team had argued that the order signed by Elubu had to be drafted in accordance with the guidelines issued by the speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga on April 23 in connection to the Shs 20 million issued to each legislator.
Kadaga had directed that the legislators spend the money on Covid-19 related activities under the watch of district task forces and provide accountability to the clerk to parliament but also copy in chief administrative officers in their respective districts.
Cherotich argued that it was wrong for court to concur with MP Gerald Karuhanga's proposal to channel the monies to public accounts of the parliamentary commission, national or district task forces. Karuhanga and fellow MP Jonathan Odur sued parliament challenging the manner in which the money was allotted to the MPs from the supplementary budget.
Cherotich noted that the court extract also failed to capture the fact that Karuhanga had withdrawn the application, which prompted them to return to court for correction of the said errors.
However, Karuhanga's lawyer, David Mpanga told court that they were only going to withdraw the matter on a condition that parliament agrees that the money is deposited on the said three public accounts.
However, Karuhanga's lawyer, David Mpanga told court that they were only going to withdraw the matter on a condition that parliament agrees that the money is deposited on the said three public accounts.
He allayed the fears of the legislators and declared the application withdrawn and promised to them to give them directions on how to proceed in the main case.
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