An attempt by activists to stop Uganda Communications Commission-UCC from switching off the unregistered sim-cards is no more.
High court judge Stephen Musota on Thursday, ruled that the interim application in which the petitioners were seeking to temporarily block UCC from continuing with the process had been overtaken by events. He, therefore, dismissed it with costs.
The costs, however, are to be awarded after the main application is determined. Each party has been given a week to make written submissions. The applicants have been given May 25th and UCC given 1st June to respond and make rejoinders by June after which the court will set the dates for hearing the application.
Following a meeting with various telecom companies last month, UCC warned that all SIM cards whose details are not updated and verified by service providers before mid-night tomorrow May 19 would be deactivated.
Activist Norman Tumuhimbise, one of the petitioners (other Rights Trumpet Ltd), has said that they oppose the behaviour and the manner in which their case was handled by the presiding judge. He noted that they are referring the matter to the Principal Judge for redress.
Abdu Salam Waiswa, the head of legal department at UCC welcomed the ruling saying the one-month given to people as an extension was enough for every Ugandan to secure a national identity card.
