Mawogola North Election Victory Challenged in Court Over Alleged Irregularities

John Jet Ndamagi Tumwebaze, the former parliamentary candidate for Mawogola North County in Sembabule District, has filed a fresh court petition seeking to nullify the election of President Yoweri Museveni’s younger brother, Godfrey Aine Kaguta, also known as Sodo.

Tumwebaze, who contested as an independent candidate, is challenging the January 15th elections in which the Electoral Commission declared Sodo, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, as the winner. Sodo garnered 12,895 votes, defeating Tumwebaze, who scored 6,426 votes.

In his petition filed to the Masaka High Court, Tumwebaze alleges the election was marred by gross irregularities orchestrated to favour Sodo. He claims that violence and ballot stuffing were conducted under the instructions of Sodo and facilitated by military personnel. According to the petition, ballot papers were forcibly taken from polling officials, marked in favour of Sodo, and stuffed into boxes in broad daylight.

Tumwebaze further alleges that voting in several polling stations ended by 11 a.m., with later voters being told ballots had run out, despite final tallies showing more votes than registered voters at some stations. Robert Rutalo, one of Tumwebaze’s lawyers, said the petition is supported by at least 200 witnesses who have affidavits attesting to the alleged irregularities, including violence and arbitrary arrest of their polling agents by the military.

“What was conducted in Mawogola was not an election, but a military operation, and the Electoral Commission was simply forced to declare manufactured results,” Rutalo said. The petition also challenges the legitimacy of Sodo’s nomination, citing alleged falsification of academic papers. 

Rutalo said, “Before the elections, we petitioned the Electoral Commission and the National Council for Higher Education seeking certified copies of Sodo’s academic papers, but the request was not granted. We have reliable information that Sodo does not have both senior four and six certificates, and was nominated based on falsified papers, which renders his candidature irregular.”

Tumwebaze is asking the court to nullify Sodo’s election victory and declare him the rightful winner, alleging he was cheated. Sodo and the Electoral Commission are yet to respond to the petition. However, Sodo has urged Tumwebaze to “join hands and serve the people of Mawogola North instead of wasting time in courts, where he will not get a remedy.”

Notably, Tumwebaze had previously challenged the NRM internal party process that declared Sodo as the party flagbearer without primaries. Sodo was declared unopposed after President Museveni reportedly persuaded incumbent MP Shartsi Musherure to step down, a move Tumwebaze argues was irregular and effectively locked out other aspirants.