In a surprising turn of events that could rattle the foundation of Uganda’s 2026 electoral roadmap, UPC party president Jimmy Akena has alleged that both his and his wife’s names have mysteriously disappeared from the national voter register a development he warns could be more than just an administrative error.
Speaking during an urgent press briefing on September 3, 2025, held at the UPC party headquarters at Uganda House in Kampala, Akena expressed deep concern over what he described as a troubling pattern after discovering that neither he nor his wife, Minister of Gender and MP Betty Amongi, could be found on the Electoral Commission’s register for Lira City.
The revelation is particularly alarming considering the couple’s strategic political shift to Lira, with Amongi now eyeing the Lira City Woman MP seat, a position currently held by Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng.
Amongi had earlier this year transferred her voter registration from Oyam District to Lira City, signaling her intention to challenge Aceng in what is shaping up to be a political showdown.
“We were shocked to discover this morning that our names do not appear in the register for Lira City including the polling station where I have voted for over 20 years,” Akena told journalists.
What began as a simple check through the EC’s online portal quickly escalated. According to Akena, Amongi could not locate her details and repeated attempts yielded nothing. Stranger still, Akena’s own name, which had appeared in past voter rolls, had also vanished.
“Our daughters are still registered there. But somehow, both of us are not. That doesn’t add up,” Akena said.
Akena revealed that Denis Odongo Odur, Amongi’s campaign manager and a mayoral hopeful for Lira City East Division, also discovered his details missing from the voter roll. For Akena, the odds of these being “coincidental technical glitches” are shrinking fast.
“These are not coincidences. We are initiating a comprehensive audit of the voter register in Lira City to determine how deep these irregularities run. The credibility of the entire electoral process is hanging in the balance.”
The electoral mystery comes as the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) wrestles with internal upheaval. Just two months ago, the High Court ruled that Akena had reached his term limit as party president, citing Article 14(1)(3) of the UPC constitution.
Yet in defiance of the ruling, Akena loyalists convened a swift extraordinary delegates’ conference, granting him a 12-month extension and keeping him firmly in place as the party’s 2026 flagbearer, a move that has deepened rifts within the party.
Now, UPC rivals Joseph Ochieno and Dennis Adim Enap are challenging Akena’s grip on power. Both have picked nomination forms from the national Electoral Commission, and are staking their claims as legitimate contenders for the party’s top seat.
As questions loom over Akena’s legal standing and the disappearance of key voter records, one thing is clear: the road to 2026 is already off to a rocky and mysterious start.
