KAMPALA – High Court Judge Musa Ssekaana has dismissed with costs a case in which the appointment of Dr Medard Bitekyerezo as the chairman of the National Drug Authority (NDA) was challenged on the basis of there being a possibility of conflict of interest in the execution of his duties.
Justice Ssekaana ruled that the petition was incompetently filed before court and resolution of the above issues in the negative, the applicant (Mr Kimpi Isabirye) is not entitled to the declarations sought.
The judge noted that the applicant should have filed an application for judicial review challenging the decision of the minister which ought to have been done within three months from the date the cause of action arose rather than filing an application for enforcement of rights where no single right is mentioned or Article of the Constitution is cited.
“I have scrutinized the entire application before this court and I have not come across any right or freedom which the applicant alleges was violated or was threatened to be violated. The applicant did not cite any infringement of any right or freedom guaranteed under the Constitution as the basis for filing this application,” the judge ruled before dismissing the case.
In January 2017, Mr Isabirye had petitioned the High Court challenging decision of the health minister to appoint Dr Bitekyerezo to the NDA Board and accused him of operating an illegal and substandard pharmacy inside Mbarara Medical Specialist Clinic which was operating illegally without a license.
“The law does not state that a person who is operating a pharmacy cannot be eligible to be appointed a chairperson. In case any such issues arose, it would imply that such a person would not sit in the meeting where the authority will be discussing his or her pharmacy,” the judge ruled
Justice Ssekaana also noted that Isabirye did not set out circumstances or reasonable facts upon which the exercise of discretion to appoint Dr Bitekyerezo could be challenged on grounds of wrongful exercise of discretion by the health minister within the parameters set out.
