Judiciary issues new COVID-19 Guidelines as hearing of election petitions begins

The Judiciary has announced new measures to be followed by all individuals involved in election petitions in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The Judiciary Public Relations officer Jameson Karemani says election petitions tend to attract big numbers of the supporters of contesting candidates and bearing in mind that COVID is still around, they have come up with measures.

According to the new measures; During petition hearings only parties, their lawyers and witnesses shall be allowed to access the court premises.

The media covering petitions before the High Court and Magistrate’s shall contact the Registrar/Magistrate of that court for guidelines on how to do the coverage.

The media that shall cover the petitions before the Supreme court shall contact the office of the Chief Registrar for accreditation and guidance on how to do the coverage.

The bottom line is that even the media personnel members shall be regulated depending on the space being used for

court.

Also, some petitions will be conducted in open spaces depending on the circumstances prevailing and a judicial officer shall not handle more than 2 petitions per day.

The measures come at a time when National Unity Platform party President Robert Kyagulanyi has petitioned the Supreme Court, challenging the election of H.E Yoweri Museveni on 14^th January 2021, on grounds that it was rigged.

According to Karemani, the Judiciary is ready to start the hearing process of the said petitions.