Ugandan MP unseated from parliament after failing primary school test

An elected Ugandan Member of Parliament lost her seat on Friday after a court nullified her election which was petitioned by a resident for lack of academic requirements.

The MP for Lwengo District in central Uganda, Miss Cissy Namujju Dionizia who stood on the ticket of the ruling party during the February 18 election failed to answer some primary school questions during the prosecution hearing in June.

The petitioner and resident, Martin Sserwanga, accused her of not passing her primary school examination and then joining secondary school illegally, local media report.

The MP who had no evidence of results said in her affidavit that she “passed her Primary Leaving Examinations in 1996, Senior Four in 2005 and Senior Six in 2007 before she obtained a certificate and diploma in Computer Information Systems”.

During cross examination on June 16, “Namujju failed to answer basic primary literacy questions, including defining what a map is, pollination, crop rotation, characteristics of an insect and differentiating between a noun and verb, throwing court in a bout of laughter,” Uganda’s Daily Monitor reports.

According to the Ugandan constitution, for qualification to be president, Member of Parliament or district chairperson, one has to be in possession of an Advanced Level Certificate or equivalent.