The National Unity Platform (NUP) Secretary General, Lewis Rubongoya, has declared that he will challenge Minister Minsa Kabanda’s victory for Kampala Central Member of Parliament.
Mr Rubongoya, who stood as the NUP flagbearer lost to Ms Kabanda, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, in the January 15 parliamentary elections.
Ms Kabanda polled 22,332 votes while Rubongoya finished second with 18,242 votes, creating a difference of 4,090 ballots. According to Rubongoya, the election was marred by irregularities, including ballot stuffing and rigging in favour of Kabanda, who currently serves as Minister for Kampala.
He claims he won 17 out of the 20 parishes in Kampala Central Division, but that Kabanda influenced electoral officials to “rob” his victory.
Rubongoya further accused Kabanda of colluding with security personnel at Summit View polling stations, including Nakasero State Lodge , to inflate votes and secure an illegal win.
He said his polling agents were deliberately denied access to these stations which facilitated the alleged rigging. As a result, Rubongoya announced that he is pursuing legal action against Kabanda’s victory to ensure the will of Kampala Central voters is respected.
Although he admitted there is no guarantee of justice in the courts, he said he intends to submit the necessary evidence to have the case on record.
Efforts to get a comment from Ms Kabanda were futile as ourrepeated phonecalls and messages went unanswered. Meanwhile, NUP’s Kampala Lord Mayor-elect, Ronald Balimwezo, and Jinja South West MP-elect Paul Mwiru have slammed the Electoral Commission over alleged irregularities during vote tallying, which they say deprived many NUP candidates of victory.
Mr Mwiru claimed that the NRM candidate, aided by electoral commission officials, “robbed” NUP of the Jinja City Mayor win by falsifying declaration forms. He added that at some polling stations, Declaration of Results (DR) forms reflected more votes than the actual voter turnout.