KAMPALA. Ruling National Resistance Movement flag bear for Lwemiyaga County Rtd Brig Emmanuel Rwashande has suffered a setback after the incumbent MP Theodore Ssekikubo dragged him to the Electoral Commission contesting his nomination .
The glitches in Rwashande’s nomination papers and the EC returning officer’s alleged attempts to smuggle new signatures and names sparked backlash in the meeting and stunned Justice Simon Byabakama and his team.
On November 14,Ssekikubo petitioned EC challenging Mr Rwashande’s nomination. He rejected three names Mr Rwashande had used for his nomination on October 22. One of the disputed credentials belongs to a female voter in another district. Drama ensued in the Tuesday meeting after the Sembabule District returning officer, Mr Gracious Aryaija, presented a document dated November 11, responding to a non-existent petition.
The Aryaija document contained three new names of Rwashande seconders, replacing the two Mr Ssekikubo questioned on account of not being voters in Lwemiyaga and another one being a resident of Kamwenge District. Mr Ssekikubo and his lawyers had earlier requested EC to stamp every page of the original file that was used in the nomination of Mr Rwashande. When Justice Byabakama ordered his staff to bring the original file, the meeting found that the 10 names used to nominate the NRM flagbearer were different. The chairman didn’t allow Mr Aryaija to speak on the matter and called for calm.
Last evening, Mr Aryaija declined to talk about his role in the alleged forgery and instead opted to give a general comment on the matter before the EC tribunal.
“What I can say is that it’s true there was a petition against Gen Rwashande, but the petition is before the [tribunal] and the tribunal has heard both sides, and is going to pronounce itself soon,” Mr Aryaija said. Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the EC spokesperson, yesterday acknowledged receiving Mr Ssekikubo’s complaints and added that the hearing is still ongoing to ascertain the validity of some claims.
“When people petition the Commission, they allege and state many things. The Commission hears the respondent, the petitioner, and any other people who the complaint or petition touches, including adducing evidence for every claim or allegation one makes, either as a petitioner or as a respondent, “Mr Mucunguzi said.
He added: “And it is on the basis of the evaluation of the entire hearing, evidence, and law, that then the Commission makes the determination of its decision on the petition, and that’s the standard practice…. The nature of complaints are as valid as they are the complaints themselves, so people will raise all sorts of things.
So the real issue is proving them to the satisfaction of the Commission and to guide its decision.” A week after the EC concluded the nationwide parliamentary nominations, Mr Ssekikubo wrote to Justice Byabakama, on October 29, requesting to be furnished with certified copies of the academic documents of his rival. Mr Ssekikubo said in the letter that he was doubtful that Mr Rwashande fulfilled the academic requirements to stand for the said seat and added that furnishing him with the document would erase all the doubts. In exercising its transparency, the Commission, on November 7, furnished Mr Ssekikubo with the documents as requested, but included all other documents Mr Gen submitted for nomination.
All hell breaks loose
Upon receiving the documents, Mr Ssekikubo, together with his lawyers of C/o M/s Alaka & Co Advocates, studied the documents and discovered multiple anomalies and immediately commenced preparing a petition challenging Mr Rwashande’s nomination. The lawyers discovered that three of the 10 alleged voters who supported Mr Rwashande’s candidature were not eligible. For example, a one Peter Nahurira, a resident of Lwamatengo Village in Ssembabule District, who was the first to sign on the supporter form, is not a registered voter. Another seconder, Ms Jovia Mpirirwe, who signed second on the form and a resident of the same village as Mr Nahurira, is also not a voter.
The other seconder, Ms Aisah Naziwa, who is listed number five on the form, is not a registered voter in Lwemiyaga. Her voter locator information against her alleged National Identification Number belongs to a one Annet Azuna of Kamwenge District. “When we discovered these glitches, we demanded that all the pages of the original documents be stamped to avoid anybody from inserting the new list, which was done,” Mr Ssekikubo said.
On November 14, the Commission tribunal summoned Mr Aryaija to explain these anomalies. Sources that attended the meeting told Daily Monitor yesterday that Mr Aryaija explained that Rwashande had earlier submitted the names, but he was told about these anomalies and rectified them before the nomination date. This submission was rejected after it emerged that the new names were not part of what lawyers called “the file of life”.
This publication has also seen the November 11 letter that was allegedly authored by Mr Aryaija, responding to Ssekikubo’s issues. He explained that, “On September 19, 2025, Rwashande submitted his documents for verification prior to nomination day, and his candidature account was opened in the application for candidate registration. Supporters were captured, and out of the 10 submitted, only 7 were accepted by the system.” “We advised him to collect more supporters, which he submitted on September 30, 2025 prior to nomination day, as it can be found on the official nomination page of [the] Electoral Commission, where his nomination is supported by 12 supporters from the Electoral Area as per the list here attached, extracted from the official nomination application,” Mr Aryaija added.
The list attached to his letter shows that three new names were inserted in the spots of the problematic seconders. For instance, Mr Nahurira was replaced by Mr Ndyomugenyi Abert, a farmer and resident of Karushonshomezi Village; Ms Mpirirwe was replaced by Nathan Karakyire, also a farmer and resident of Karushonshomezi Village, while Ms Naziwa was replaced by Mr Ezra Ndibarema, a farmer and resident of Nyamiryango Village. The Commission is expected to further hear this petition, which has thrown (Rtd) Brig Rwashade’s parliamentary dream into shambles. Section 28 (1) (c) of the Parliamentary Elections Act Cap 177 mandates all aspiring members of Parliament to submit a list of 10 supporters from their constituency who second their candidature.
Guideline 4 of the Parliamentary Nomination Guidelines issued by the EC indicates that the nomination papers of all candidates sponsored by a political party or organisation shall be endorsed and SEALED by their political party/organisation. In this case, the guidelines emphasise that the Secretary General of that political party will sign the said papers. Unlike the original Rwashande nomination form, which contains the list of three disputed seconders, which was signed by Mr Richard Todwong, the Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) that sponsored him, the Aryaija insertion form was endorsed by an administrative secretary of the ruling party on September 10, 2025.
Another red flag is that the two lists were stamped by NRM on September 9 and 10, yet Mr Aryaija, in his letter, told the EC Secretary that Rwashande submitted the first list on September 19, scrutinised by the EC officials, and asked to correct when he resubmitted on September 30, about three weeks before the nomination. Efforts to get a comment from Mr Rwashande were futile as his known mobile phone number was off by press time. Counsel Nice Gakire of Gakire, Nkunda & Co Advocates, a firm representing Mr Rwashande in the matter, last evening declined comment on the issues at hand and requested to first confer with her client on whether she can go ahead and discuss the petition.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
Section 28 (1) (c) of the Parliamentary Elections Act Cap 177 mandates all aspiring members of Parliament to submit a list of 10 supporters from their constituency who second their candidature. Guideline 4 of the Parliamentary Nomination Guidelines issued by the EC indicates that the nomination papers of all candidates sponsored by a political party or organisation shall be endorsed and SEALED by their political party/organisation.
In this case, the guidelines emphasise that the secretary general of that political party will sign the said papers. The incumbent Lwemiyaga County MP claims his opponent and NRM flagbearer Emmanuel Rwashande did not present the required number of supporters to endorse his nomination, among others.