BATTLE FOR KIKUUBE! EC Gives Green Light to NRM, NUP LCV Contenders

The Electoral Commission (EC) has dismissed a petition filed against Fenekansi Timanyire, one of the candidates in the Kikuube LCV by-election.

The ruling signed by Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, dismissed the petition.

The Tribunal found that Mbabazi presented a Degree of Associate of Arts in Real Estate, awarded by Los Angeles College, USA, to the Returning Officer for his nomination, but he did not accompany the said Degree Certificate with a certificate from the National Council of Higher Education as required under Section 123(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act.

The Commission further stated that, going by the available evidence, it was satisfied that both Paddy Kisembo and Fenekansi Timanyire submitted the requisite number of supporters endorsing their respective nominations.

The Commission said it found no merit in the petition and dismissed it.

The commission further concurred with the decision taken by the Returning Officer to nominate candidates, Paddy Kisembo and Fenekansi Timanyire.

EC’s Head of Public Relations, Julius Mucunguzi, confirmed the ruling in a telephone interview with Uganda Radio Network (URN), noting that the Commission consulted all the relevant electoral laws and examined all the evidence brought before them and found no merit in the petition.

Mucunguzi says that only the two nominated candidates will appear on the ballot papers on June 18, 2026, when the people of Kikuube will be electing their LCV Chairperson.

Mbabazi is yet to comment on the ruling by the Electoral Commission Tribunal.

The petition was filed by Burnet Phillip Mbabazi, who had also accused the Kikuube district Returning Officer, Emmanuel Twiine, of refusing to nominate him.

Mbabazi stated that nominations of the respondents were not done in accordance with and in compliance with section 123 of the Local Government Act.

He had claimed that the respondents did not attach to their nomination papers lists of names of fifty registered voters from each of at least two-thirds of the electoral area in accordance with the law.

The petitioner further contended that the nomination papers of the respondents were fraudulently and illegally supported by lists of registered voters who supported multiple candidates interchangeably.

In the Petition, Mbabazi also stated that the second respondent (Paddy Kisembo) fraudulently and in collusion with the returning officer secured nomination as the NRM Party sponsored candidate without such party sponsorship and using forged nomination papers and documents.

He further contended that the Returning officer should have rejected the nomination papers of the respondents.

Mbabazi in the petition demanded that notification of the disqualification of the Respondents as candidates in the by-election be issued and published in Kikuube district, and that he should be declared duly elected unopposed.

Two candidates, Paddy Kisembo of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and Fenekansi of the National Unity Platform, are competing for the seat.

The by-election follows the death of former Kikuube District Chairperson Peter Banura, who died in a road accident on April 4, 2026, along the Hoima–Fort Portal Road.