The High Court in Luweero, presided over by Justice Samuel Emokor, has concluded the hearing of an election petition filed by former Nakaseke Central MP Allan Mayanja challenging the victory of State Minister for Kampala Joseph Kabuye Kyofatogabye.
Justice Emokor is scheduled to deliver his judgement on December 9, 2026, after directing the parties to file their written submissions by November 6, 2026.
On Friday, the court heard testimony from the final witness, Aidah Tusiime, who served as the Nakaseke District Electoral Commission returning officer during the January 15, 2026, parliamentary elections.
Tusiime was cross-examined by Mayanja’s lawyer, Lawrence Kabuye, who questioned her about the tallying of votes and discrepancies in the declaration of results forms.
Tusiime told the court that the election in Nakaseke Central was conducted smoothly and that she had not received any complaints from candidates during the electoral process.
She said she received properly sealed declaration of results forms from 93 of the 95 polling stations in the constituency.
However, Tusiime acknowledged that she did not initially receive declaration of results forms from Kibose Primary School, Magoma RC and All Saints Church polling stations.
She told the court that she was compelled to declare the overall results on January 18, 2026, because the constitutional 48-hour period for announcing the results had expired.
Tusiime further testified that the votes from the three polling stations did not significantly affect the overall outcome of the election.
She later received the declaration of results form from All Saints Church polling station, where Kyofatogabye had obtained 57 votes while Mayanja garnered 120 votes.
Tusiime said she added the figures and issued another declaration of results form to reflect the results from the polling station.
The former returning officer also acknowledged discrepancies in some of the results, including instances where the number of votes recorded exceeded the number of registered voters.
However, she told the court that she was not responsible for recording votes on the declaration of results forms. She explained that her role was to receive results from field officials and announce the final outcome.
Tusiime also admitted that some figures had been altered.
Outside court, both Mayanja and Kyofatogabye expressed satisfaction with the progress of the case as they awaited the judge’s judgement.
“We have done at least 80 per cent in this case, and the remaining 20 per cent is left to Justice Emokor. We hope for a fair judgement,” Mayanja said.
Kyofatogabye, however, said he hoped the court would order Mayanja to reimburse the money he had spent defending his victory in the petition.
“Initially, I thought I would forgive Mayanja, but he has disturbed me a lot. So, I am going to discuss with my lawyers to see how we can recover our costs,” Kyofatogabye said.