PL triumphs in court battle

The Liberal Party (PL) have won the much publicized lawsuit filed by expelled former senior party executives contesting what they called illegal sacking.“There is no content in the complaint filed by the plaintiffs because they were expelled according to procedure and should pay Frw5 million for tarnishing the party image by dragging it in unnecessary legal battles,” High Court President Justice Johnston Busingye ruled yesterday.The five plaintiffs, who include former MPs Elie Ngirabakunzi and Isaie Murashi, claimed they had been expelled from the party by the executive committee, a fact they claim was against the party rules and regulations.“There is no legal basis in disqualifying the executive committee to take action against them despite that the three of the plaintiffs were members of the executive. There is a provision that the party congress can delegate this committee to act on its behalf,” Busingye ruled.According to the rules governing the party, members of the executive committee are appointed and expelled by the party congress.He said that the fact that the committee, which is chaired by PL President Protais Mitali, did all that was required including appointing two instituting adhoc commissions to mitigate the problem between the members and the party, but in vain. Court however dismissed claims by defence lawyers which blamed the various ‘defaming’ articles published in local newspapers against the party on the claimants.“The lawyers did not substantiate the role played by plaintiffs in having these articles published. The party should, if interested sue those newspapers but not hold plaintiffs liable,” Busingye said.He however cited a particular article published in Rushyashya, a local vernacular into which a scanned bounced cheque that was issued by Mitali was published.‘There is no one who might have leaked this cheque to media other than Ngirabakunzi, who has also been the party treasurer. There is a motive of him having used it as a ‘political strategy’ against Mitali and this is illegal,” justice Busingye said.He said that the motive to publish the cheque was not in the effort to recover the money from the ‘culprit’ (Mitali) because there were other authorities that would have mitigated the problem.The cheque, worth Frw900, 000, was issued by Mitali in 2003 allegedly as his contribution to the party. It however bounced when produced at Congebanque where it was supposed to be cashed.Ngirabakunzi and his colleagues also lost the claim that the party dismissed them basing on a substandard party statute.The judge ruled: “Basing on the verbatim I received for the various meetings including the party congress, the new statute is binding, owing to the fact that it was drafted with consent of complainants, some of whom having been members of the executive and it was designed to suit the interests of the party.” Among the five; Ngirabakunzi (party treasurer), Dr Laurien Nyabyenda, the party president for the Southern Province and Emmanuel Uwimana (first vice president for Western Province) were the members of the executive.After the pronouncement of the verdict, Uwimana, on behalf of his colleagues said they intend to appeal.Reacting to the ruling, Ngirabakunzi said: “I know I will be liberal at heart, the fact that I have been expelled from the party does not change my ideology.”The wrangles in the party stem from the elections which were held on August 5. Mitali, who is also Commerce and Industry minister, won as new party president Ngirabakunzi and the other four politicians challenged the outcome of the polls, claiming they were rigged.The claimants were at first suspended for four years from the party executive but later, they were expelled indefinitely, leading to Ngirabakunzi and Murashi to lose their seats in the Chamber of Deputies.They were subsequently replaced by Charles Kamanda and Francois Udahemuka in the august House. Ends

National

PL triumphs in court battle