In Summary: Justice Patience T. E. Rubagumya ruled that former MP Bwire Sanon Nadeba missed the legal opportunity to challenge Mugoya’s academic qualifications before the election. The court also rejected claims of altered results, bribery, violence and ballot stuffing, finding insufficient evidence.
Iganga, Uganda — The High Court in Iganga has dismissed with costs an election petition filed by former Bulamogi County MP Bwire Sanon Nadeba, upholding the election of Mugoya Bernard Mutebi, popularly known as Agro Ben, in the January 15, 2026 parliamentary elections.
In a judgment delivered electronically on Monday, November 9, 2026, Justice Patience T. E. Rubagumya rejected Nadeba’s challenge to Mugoya’s election, confirming him as the duly elected Member of Parliament for Bulamogi County.
Nadeba had challenged Mugoya’s victory on several grounds, including allegations that he lacked the minimum academic qualifications required to contest for Parliament, alteration of results at 54 polling stations, bribery, violence, ballot stuffing and other electoral offences.
The Electoral Commission declared Mugoya the winner with 29,268 votes against Nadeba’s 21,498, giving him a majority of 7,770 votes. He was subsequently gazetted on March 2, 2026.
Court rejects academic qualifications challenge
One of the central issues in the petition was Nadeba’s allegation that Mugoya did not possess the minimum academic qualifications required to contest for the parliamentary seat.
However, Justice Rubagumya held that Nadeba had raised the issue too late because the alleged defects in the academic documents were apparent from the nomination papers and could have been challenged before polling day.
The judge held that the law provides a specific procedure and timeframe for challenging a candidate’s nomination, which cannot be bypassed by raising the same objections after an election.
“A Petitioner who does not challenge the nomination of the candidate within the time and forum provided by Section 15 of the Electoral Commission Act is estopped from raising those matters after the election.”
During cross-examination, Nadeba admitted that he had not inspected Mugoya’s nomination papers, despite the opportunity provided under Section 32 of the Parliamentary Elections Act. The judge noted that Nadeba had failed to investigate the propriety of Mugoya’s academic documents before the election.
“During his cross examination, the Petitioner confirmed that he did not bother to find out the propriety of the 1st Respondent’s academic documents because he did not see it as necessary.”
The court also considered a complaint raised before polling by another voter, Basule Faruku, who had inspected Mugoya’s nomination documents and questioned his qualifications.
According to the Judge’s ruling, the Electoral Commission dismissed the complaint after establishing that Mugoya had executed a Deed Poll, published in the Uganda Gazette, adopting the name Mutebi Bernard Mugoya. The commission also found that no other person had claimed the academic documents in question.
Nadeba also challenged the results announced by the Electoral Commission, alleging alterations at 54 polling stations. He relied on uncertified Declaration of Results (DR) forms, arguing that the figures contained in those documents would have given him 31,238 votes against Mugoya’s 29,268.
However, the court declined to rely on the uncertified forms, holding that they could not establish the alleged alterations.
Justice Rubagumya further found that Nadeba had not proved forgery or alteration of the certified election results forms. The court therefore rejected the argument that the alleged changes in results had affected the final outcome of the election.
One polling station irregularity established
Although the court rejected the bulk of Nadeba’s allegations, it identified one instance of non-compliance at Universal Apostles Church polling station.
At the polling station, results for 315 registered voters were not tallied after Declaration of Results forms were reportedly grabbed during the announcement of the results. However, the judge found that the irregularity was insufficient to affect the outcome of the election.
The court reasoned that even if all the 315 registered voters had cast their ballots in favour of Nadeba, the number would not have overturned Mugoya’s winning margin of 7,770 votes. The finding therefore did not meet the threshold required to invalidate the election.
The court also rejected Nadeba’s allegations of bribery at Muna Secondary School and Kaliro Church ground, as well as claims that armed and masked men had engaged in violence during the election.
Other allegations, including ballot stuffing and defamation, were also dismissed after the judge found that the petitioner had not presented sufficient evidence to substantiate them.
In explaining the evidentiary threshold in election disputes, Justice Rubagumya observed: “An election petition is not decided on suspicion however genuinely held but on cogent evidence.”
The court consequently dismissed the petition, confirmed Mugoya Bernard Mutebi as the duly elected MP for Bulamogi County and awarded costs to Mugoya and the Electoral Commission
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