High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Mugamba yesterday declared Busiro South parliamentary seat vacant after proof that the newly-sworn in Peter Sematimba lacked the academic qualifications for the post.

This was after Sematimba's political rival, Stephen Sekigozi seeking a legal redress, saying that Super FM's CEO doesn't have  academic documents that are an equivalent of Uganda Advanced  Certificate of Education (UACE), which is a prerequisite for one's nomination to vie for a parliamentary seat.

In his defence, pastor Sematimba said that he has an Ordinary Level certificate from Kings' College Budo and a pre- medicine transcript from Asuza Pacific University, USA.
He also holds a Diploma in
Electrical and Computer Technology from Pacific Coast Technical Institute, USA, which Sekigozi said are not in his possession.

On the contrary, his challenger Sekigozi, who was a Democratic Party (DP) candidate, said that the only valid certificate Sematimba holds is the one from the East African Examinations Council, which is not an equivalent to an A-level certificate.

While listening to these accusations and counter accusations, Justice Mugambe noticed that NRM's Sematimba has no valid certificate of equivalence and that National Council for Higher Education (NHCE) was not vigilant enough to avoid this anomaly, as it was supposed to verify the authenticity of his documents before nomination.

But the executive director for NCHE, Prof John Opuda-Asubo, had earlier testified in court that Sematimba's O-level certificate from King's College Budo, diploma in electrical and computer technology from Pacific Coast
Technical Institute and a pre-medicine transcript from Asuza Pacific University in the United States were cleared. He added that it was after this clearance that he was compelled to award him a UACE certificate, allowing him to run for the post.

However, even after Opuda-Asubo's explaination,  Mugamba went ahead and concluded that the electoral commission should arrange fresh election for Busiro South constituency as the seat has become vacant.

Journalism@Mak has learnt that as Sematimba's court battle ends, some more other MP's are still fiagthing hard to win similar battles. A case in point in Kalungu Woman MP, Aisha Ssekindi who was dragged to court by her opponent, Naluyatti Waliggo on grounds that she forged academic documents, which she presented for her nomination. The case isbefore Masaka High Court.