The Electoral Commission (EC) faced intense scrutiny as Members of Parliament questioned the conduct of the Kawempe Division North by-election, following its recent nullification by the High Court.
The commission led by the Acting Secretary, Richard Kamugisha, on Tuesday, 27 May 2025 appeared before the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) chaired by Hon. Medard Sseggona.
The meeting, originally convened to examine the Auditor General’s report, was overtaken by developments following the court ruling on 26 May 2025, which nullified the election of Hon. Elias Nalukoola of the National Unity Platform (NUP) over irregularities.
Kamugisha defended the commission’s conduct of the by-election, saying all statutory procedures were followed but was quick to add that even his staff were threatened by the chaos.
“Our people were at the polling station, they closed the polls, they counted, they announced results, they were filling declaration forms when they were chased with stones and they had to run for their lives. So I do not know what wrong in that case the commission did.”
However, his defence was met with scepticism from legislators, especially following admissions that election materials were destroyed at 14 polling stations and that a candidate was arrested during campaign processions.
Hon. Sseggona further pressed Kamugisha to understand who called for deployment of the army in the area.
“Had the security talked to you or alerted you, or you alerted the security of the possibility of some altercation, for you to have invited the Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JAT) to participate?” he questioned.
Hon. Allan Mayanja (NUP, Nakaseke Central County, Nakaseke) raised concerns about the presence of the army on polling day, particularly an incident at Kawempe Mbogo Mosque where journalists were reportedly beaten.
Kamugisha responded that the Uganda Police, not the Electoral Commission, is mandated to manage election security. He admitted that one of the nominated candidates was arrested, but that was not at the nomination venue. He explained that EC later met with the Uganda Police over the matter.
“The commission did not invite, in this particular case, JAT or whoever it was… the Uganda Police actually apologised and promised it would not be repeated,” he said.
When Hon. Nathan Itungo (Independent, Kashari South County) asked whether the EC believed the Kawempe election was free and fair, Kamugisha offered a qualified defence.
Kamugisha said the management of elections involves a number of stakeholders and that the destruction of election materials, which in the process denied the commission results to declare, was not done by the Electoral Commission.
Pressed on whether the EC followed up on the cases of violence and disruption, Kamugisha admitted that the commission reported the destruction of materials to the police, but offered little detail on the outcome of those cases.
“We reported the case at Kawempe Police Station… the file is still open and investigations are ongoing,” he said.
However, MPs including Abdallah Kiwanuka (NUP, Mukono County North) expressed frustration over the commission’s apparent lack of follow-through and accountability.
Hon. Yusuf Nsibambi, (FDC, Mawokota County South, Mpigi) accused the EC of abandoning its constitutional mandate.
“Why don’t you resign? If goons can just go around and terrorise voters, and you who were given constitutional powers say ‘what can we do?’, then why are we here? You are legitimising insanity in an election which is supposed to be free and fair.”
The committee tasked the commission to return with their lessons learnt at the subsequent meeting.
