ENTEBBE: The High Court in Entebbe has dismissed an application by Busiro South parliamentary candidate Charles Matovu seeking access to electoral materials from the Electoral Commission, ruling that the request was vague, amounted to a fishing expedition, and was filed after an inordinate delay.
In a ruling delivered on September 25, 2026, Justice Jamson Karemani dismissed the application with costs, saying Matovu had failed to identify the documents he sought with sufficient specificity as required by law.
Matovu, who contested the Busiro County South parliamentary election held on January 15, 2026, had asked the court to compel the Electoral Commission to produce several election records, including material packaging lists, official report books, accountability of ballot paper forms, scanner reports, and certified Declaration of Results (DR) forms from more than 100 polling stations.
He argued that the documents were necessary to support his election petition challenging the victory of Kenan Opio, alleging non-compliance with electoral laws. According to the petition, Matovu polled 30,487 votes against Opio’s 36,497, a difference of 6,007 votes. He further claimed that certified DR forms later issued by the Electoral Commission differed from the original forms obtained by his polling agents.
The Electoral Commission opposed the application, arguing that it was incompetent, frivolous, and a fishing expedition. The Commission maintained that Matovu had already been supplied with certified DR forms and that election materials must remain in its custody until all election disputes are concluded.
In his judgment, Justice Karemani noted that while courts have discretion to order discovery of documents, an applicant must demonstrate that the materials sought are relevant, clearly identified, in the respondent’s custody, and that genuine efforts were made to obtain them voluntarily before seeking court intervention.
The judge found that Matovu’s request for documents relating to the entire constituency and 102 unnamed polling stations in Nkumba, Kisubi, and Kitala wards was too general to be enforced. He also ruled that the applicant could not remedy deficiencies in the original application by introducing new details through a rejoinder affidavit.
Justice Karemani further observed that Matovu had contradicted himself by seeking certified DR forms that he acknowledged had already been provided by the Electoral Commission. If some forms were missing, the judge said, the applicant ought to have clearly identified which documents had been received and which remained outstanding.
Although the court agreed that electoral materials are not privileged documents and may be disclosed in appropriate circumstances, it held that Matovu had failed to justify requesting information already in his possession.
The judge also criticized the timing of the application, noting that Matovu first requested documents in March 2026 but only filed the discovery application on September 13, more than five months later and on the eve of the election petition’s scheduling. He ruled that election petitions are urgent matters and that such delay amounted to inordinate delay.
The application was dismissed with costs, paving the way for the substantive hearing of the Busiro South election petition.
English 