The High Court in Kampala has dismissed an election petition challenging the election of Makindye East Member of Parliament Kasirye Nganda Ali after finding that it was filed outside the mandatory 30-day statutory deadline.
Justice Allan Paul Nshimye dismissed the petition filed by Francis Lubega, a registered voter and former Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) candidate in the January 15, 2026 parliamentary elections, after ruling that it was filed five days beyond the prescribed period.
Lubega had challenged Kasirye’s election and asked court to annul his nomination, declaration and gazetting as the duly elected MP for Makindye East Constituency.
The petitioner argued, among other things, that Kasirye did not possess the required academic qualifications, particularly an A-Level certificate bearing his photograph, which Lubega claimed was a requirement for certificates issued from 2007 onwards.
He also asked court to nullify the election and order a fresh poll on grounds of alleged substantial non-compliance with electoral laws.
However, Kasirye’s lawyers, together with lawyers representing the Electoral Commission, raised a preliminary objection that the petition was filed outside the 30-day period prescribed by Section 79(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The respondents argued that Kasirye was gazetted as the elected MP for Makindye East on March 2, 2026, meaning that Lubega was required to file his petition by April 1, 2026.
The court examined the electronic filing records on the Judiciary’s Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECCMIS) to determine when the petition was actually filed.
Justice Nshimye found that although an empty document was uploaded on the system on April 3, 2026, at 10:47pm, it was flagged as containing no pleading.
The judge further found that Lubega subsequently initiated the process of filing the petition on April 3 but did not upload the actual petition until April 7, 2026, at 8:40am. Court fees were also paid on April 7.
The court therefore determined that the petition was filed on April 7, 2026.
Justice Nshimye said Section 79(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act requires every election petition challenging a parliamentary election to be filed within 30 days from the date the election results are published in the Uganda Gazette.
The judge also relied on Section 34(1) of the Interpretation Act, which provides that when computing a period of days from an event, the day on which the event occurred is excluded.
The court found that the 30-day period began running from March 2, 2026, when the Uganda Gazette published Kasirye as the elected MP, and expired on April 2.
“The evidence on record in this petition shows that the petition was filed out of time,” Justice Nshimye ruled.
He said the statutory deadline was mandatory and could not be cured once an election petition had been filed outside the prescribed period.
The judge cited the Court of Appeal decision in Ikiror Kevin v Orot Samuel, Election Petition Appeal No. 105 of 2016, in which the court emphasised the strict nature of the statutory timeline for filing election petitions.
Justice Nshimye also noted that Lubega did not file submissions in response to the preliminary objections within the schedule issued by court on September 16, 2026.
Instead, Lubega filed a separate application on September 24 seeking permission to extend the time within which to file the election petition.
The judge held that the application did not absolve the petitioner from complying with the earlier court directions requiring him to file submissions on the preliminary objections.
Having upheld the respondents’ objection on the issue of time, the court said there was no need to consider the other preliminary objections or the substantive grounds challenging Kasirye’s election.
The petition was consequently dismissed.
However, Justice Nshimye ordered Lubega to pay only half of the respondents’ costs, citing the grounds of the petition and the circumstances that led to its dismissal.
The ruling was delivered on October 1, 2026.
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