The High Court in Masaka has dismissed former Defence Minister Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja’s challenge to the election of Yusuf Kiruluuta Nkeretanyi as Kalungu East Member of Parliament, ruling that the petition was filed outside the statutory time limit.
In a ruling delivered by Justice Joyce Kavuma and read by Masaka Deputy Registrar Roy Karungi, the court held that Ssempijja’s election petition was lodged after the expiry of the mandatory 30-day period following the gazetting of Nkeretanyi as the duly elected MP.
Justice Kavuma further held that the court had no jurisdiction to extend the statutory period for filing an election petition.
The petition was consequently dismissed, with each party ordered to meet its own costs.
Ssempijja, who contested the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket, had challenged the Electoral Commission’s declaration of Nkeretanyi, the National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate, as winner of the Kalungu East seat.
According to results announced by the Electoral Commission, Nkeretanyi polled 15,473 votes against Ssempijja’s 13,298 votes.
Ssempijja disputed the result, alleging irregularities in the tallying process and arguing that the declared figures did not accurately reflect the votes cast at several polling stations.
Among the complaints raised by his legal team were alleged discrepancies in Declaration of Results forms, including claims that some polling stations had more than one form bearing different serial numbers.
Ssempijja also alleged that some votes attributed to Nkeretanyi were not supported by the ballots cast and asked court to intervene to establish the actual outcome of the election.
Earlier in the dispute, the Masaka Chief Magistrate’s Court ordered a recount of ballots cast in Kalungu East after Ssempijja sought to have the results independently verified.
The recount application was based on his claim that the Electoral Commission had made errors while tallying results from several polling stations. He argued that a recount would demonstrate that he had actually won the election.
The Electoral Commission had declared Nkeretanyi winner with a margin of 2,175 votes.
Nkeretanyi’s legal team opposed Ssempijja’s claims, arguing, among other things, that the alleged irregularities were not attributable to the MP-elect because he was not responsible for tallying or declaring the results.
The dispute subsequently moved to the High Court in Masaka, where Ssempijja sought to challenge Nkeretanyi’s election through a formal election petition.
However, the latest ruling means the court did not proceed to determine the substantive allegations of electoral irregularities because it found that the petition itself was filed out of time.
The dismissal therefore turned on the procedural issue of limitation rather than a determination of whether the alleged electoral irregularities occurred.
Nkeretanyi consequently retains the Kalungu East parliamentary seat, subject to any lawful further challenge arising from the ruling.
