By Eye Media Uganda | Sunday, December 21, 2025
The High Court sitting in Kampala has dealt yet another blow to embattled politician Walukagga Mathias, dismissing his election appeal and firmly upholding the Electoral Commission’s decision to cancel his nomination for the Busiro East parliamentary race.
In a judgment delivered electronically on December 21, 2025, Hon. Justice Simon Peter M. Kinobe ruled that Walukagga was lawfully denominated by the Electoral Commission after failing to meet the mandatory academic qualification requirements at the time of nomination.
The court found that the certificate Walukagga relied on had expired by the time he presented it for nomination, rendering his candidature invalid in law.
“An expired certificate at the time of nomination cannot lead to a legitimate nomination,” Justice Kinobe held.
Court rejects all Walukagga’s prayers
Walukagga had dragged the Electoral Commission and rival candidate Lubowa John Kilimiro to court under Election Petition Appeal No. 10 of 2025, seeking to overturn a decision communicated to him on December 9, 2025, which struck him off the race.
Among his prayers, Walukagga asked court to:
- Set aside the EC decision,
- Reinstate and renominate him as a candidate for Busiro East,
- Declare him duly nominated for Member of Parliament.
However, court rejected all the prayers, concluding that:
- Walukagga did not possess a valid academic qualification at the time of nomination,
- His nomination was invalid and rightly set aside,
- The Electoral Commission acted correctly and within the law.
Justice Kinobe further dismissed arguments hinged on a letter from IUIU dated November 11, 2025, which allegedly suggested conditional validity of the certificate.
The judge was clear that institutional letters cannot override the express legal framework governing elections.
Petition dismissed, no costs awarded
In the end, the court dismissed the petition in its entirety, marking yet another courtroom defeat for Walukagga.
However, in a rare relief, Justice Kinobe declined to award costs to the respondents, noting that the matter raised an issue of public importance that had not been fully tested in Uganda’s electoral jurisprudence. Each party was ordered to bear its own costs.
Political misfortune deepens
The ruling compounds Walukagga’s political woes, with critics now saying “ekuba omunaku tekya” — misfortune never strikes just once.
With the High Court door firmly shut, Walukagga’s path back into the Busiro East contest appears effectively blocked, leaving the Electoral Commission’s decision intact and the race moving on without him.
As the dust settles, the judgment sends a strong warning to aspirants that academic qualifications are not a mere formality but a strict legal threshold, one that courts will not bend for political convenience.
The Eye Media will continue to follow developments in the Busiro East race and bring you authoritative legal and political analysis.
