Teddy Nabukenya, the Kalungu District Electoral Commission Returning Officer, is facing criminal prosecution over alleged neglect of duty during the 2026 general elections. Nabukenya is accused of refusing to conduct a mandatory vote recount in the Kalungu West parliamentary election and failing to secure election materials after a recount request was lodged before her.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has directed police to arrest and prosecute Nabukenya after Ismail Ssemakula, an independent candidate who contested the Kalungu West parliamentary seat, filed a complaint about her conduct. Ssemakula lost the election to National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu by a margin of 46 votes.
In his complaint, Ssemakula alleges that Nabukenya declined his request for a recount despite the narrow margin, which he said triggered a mandatory recount under Section 73(1)(b) of the Parliamentary Elections Act. The provision requires a returning officer to conduct a recount where the difference between the candidate with the highest number of votes and another candidate is less than 50 votes, provided a written request is made by a candidate, agent or voter.
Ssemakula alleges that after he initially submitted his request, Nabukenya asked him to type the letter, then declined to conduct the recount through deliberate delaying tactics. He adds that even after notifying Nabukenya of his intention to seek a recount through an application to the Chief Magistrate’s Court, the Returning Officer deliberately failed to secure safe custody of the election materials in store, leading to choreographed tampering by breaking some of the seals on the ballot boxes to frustrate the exercise.
In a letter signed by Barbara Kavuma, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, the DPP directed police to arrest Nabukenya, indicating that evidence on file is sufficient to support charges of neglect of duty contrary to Section 101 of the Penal Code Act.
The DPP preferred two offences of: refusal to conduct the mandatory recount after a request by a candidate and failure to ensure the safe custody of election materials. “…the evidence on file is sufficient to sustain the charges, first in respect of refusal to conduct a mandatory vote recount after she had been requested by one of the candidates, and secondly, for her failure to secure safe custody of the election materials,” the letter reads in part.
Twaha Kasirye, the Greater Masaka Regional Police Spokesperson, says police have summoned Nabukenya to process her file in accordance with the DPP’s directive. Efforts to obtain a comment from Nabukenya were unsuccessful as her known telephone contacts could not be reached. The Returning Officer’s criminal prosecution comes shortly after she was also summoned to appear as a witness before the Masaka High Court in a civil election dispute challenging the process of tallying and declaration of the results for the Kalungu West parliamentary election-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
