In the last two weeks towards the end of last month, MPs were seen busy throwing victory parties worth of hundreds of millions in their different constituencies, thanking the electorate for sending them to parliament.

However, Journalism@Mak has learnt that the excitement for some of these honourables may end up being short lived. A case in point is the NRM's Kalungu woman MP, Aisha Sekindi.

Shortly after the February 18 parliamentary election Ssekindi, was dragged to court by her opponent on grounds that she forged academic documents, which she presented for her nomination.

Naluyati Waliggo from Democratic Party, in a case that is before Masaka High Court, also said that there is proof Sekindi doesn't have the
Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education, which is a minimum requirement for one to stand for a parliamentary seat, as per the Parliamentary Elections Act 2005.

Waliggo also alleged that Sekindi engaged in voter bribery which is also inconsistent with the Act.

SCHOOLS DENY SEKINDI

In a bid to prove that Sekindi didn't even qualify for nomination, Waliggo ran to two school where she claimed to have attained her Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) passlips from and found that they didn't know her.
"Sekindi claims to have sat her Primary Leaving Examinations in 1994 at Kyato Primary School in Kalungu District, her Senior Four from Kaddugala Secondary School in 1998, but our investigations revealed that the said schools don’t have her results in their records," Waliggo told court on Wednesday.

Waliggo added that the documents that Sekindi has are from a teachers' college and even bare different names.

However, in her defance, Sekindi said that she was not aware of the Grade Three Teachers' Certificate from Kabukunge College, but rather acquired her
certificate from Kibuli Primary Teachers’ College.

On the issue of different names on her academic documents, the respondent said: " This was a spelling mistake made by my primary school teachers, which was, however, corrected at a later stage.

NCHE BOSS SUMMONED

The appellant added that it was the executive director for National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), Prof John Opuda-Asubo who connived with Sekindi and forged her documnets for nomination.

It was after this allegation that Justice Michael Elubu of Masaka High Court summoned Opuda-Asubo to testify whether the defendant's academic papers are authentic or not.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS

According to the Parliamentary Elections Act 2005, section 5, it states that any person who forges academic certificate, purpoting it to be issued by NCHE, shall, on conviction, be liable to 10 years in prison.

As Sekindi battles in court, so is Peace Kusasira for Mukono District Woman MP from the same party. Kusasira is being accused of voter bribery and other cases by her political rival, Hanifah Nabukera, and court heard the case on Monday May 23. The ruling is yet to be given.

If court does not rule in favour of NRM candidates, then the two are likely to be thrown out of the 10th Parliament, soon.