The High Court in Luwero has set December 9, 2026, for a ruling in an election petition challenging the victory of State Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs Kabuye Kyofa, in the Nakaseke Central parliamentary election.
Justice Samuel Emokor set the date after concluding the hearing of the petition, during which the former Nakaseke District Returning Officer, Aidah Tusiime, was cross-examined by lawyers representing the petitioner, Allan Mayanja, who contested the seat on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket.
Kyofa was declared the winner with 13,742 votes against Mayanja’s 8,298. However, Mayanja is challenging the results, accusing the Electoral Commission of declaring the results based on altered results from 31 polling stations and issuing two separate sets of final results.
During the proceedings, Mayanja’s lawyer presented declaration forms from several polling stations to Tusiime, pointing to alleged discrepancies, including instances where the number of votes cast reportedly exceeded the number of registered voters at the respective polling stations.
In her testimony, Tusiime acknowledged that some declaration forms used to declare Kyofa the winner contained what she described as crossed results, while others had discrepancies in the votes recorded. However, she told the court that her role was limited to declaring results as presented on the forms and that she was not responsible for making entries on declaration forms at individual polling stations.
Tusiime also testified that she had not received any formal complaints about the alleged alterations during the tallying process. She further said she had not witnessed any tampering with ballot boxes that could have cast doubt on the election results.
She explained that she initially declared Kyofa the winner without including results from three polling stations because she had run out of time and believed the missing figures would not affect the candidates’ respective positions.
However, she said the results were later revised after the missing figures were received, prompting the issuance of another results transmission form, which also confirmed Kyofa as the duly elected Member of Parliament for Nakaseke Central.
Nasser Sserunjogi, the lawyer representing the Electoral Commission, told the court that the commission had no further witnesses to present and asked the judge to close the hearing.
Justice Emokor subsequently directed all three parties to file their final written submissions by November 6, 2026, ahead of the ruling scheduled for December 9. Speaking to journalists after the court session, Mayanja said he was satisfied with how his lawyers had presented the case. He argued that the Electoral Commission’s final witness had confirmed that altered results were used in declaring Kyofa the winner.
Meanwhile, Kyofa expressed satisfaction with the defence presented in court to support his victory and urged the judge to rule in his favour. The court will determine whether the alleged irregularities were substantial enough to affect the validity of Kyofa’s election as Member of Parliament for Nakaseke Central-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
