Retired Supreme Court Judge Eldad Mwangusya has criticised the Masaka Chief Magistrate who presided over the disputed vote recount that overturned the election of National Unity Platform candidate Rose Nalubowa as Masaka City Woman MP and declared National Resistance Movement candidate Justine Nameere the winner.
Justice Mwangusya faulted Chief Magistrate Abert Asiimwe for allowing a vote recount in Ms Nameere’s application, despite reportedly declining to order recounts in other election disputes that were based on similar grounds.
“In the other Masaka case, the magistrate said no, no, no…the jurisprudence has to change, and we should recount,” Justice Mwangusya said.
“But why do you refuse to recount in one and you recount in another? That is where the problem was,” he added.
The retired judge made the remarks on Friday during the closing session of a two-day training for justices of the Court of Appeal in Kampala. The training, organised by the Judicial Training Institute, focused on the effective handling of election appeals expected to arise from petitions currently before the High Court.
During a plenary discussion, Justice Christopher Gashirabake, who moderated the session, asked Justice Mwangusya to guide judicial officers on how they should handle cases where ballot box seals are found broken.
“My lord, shouldn’t it be useful for us to know when to conduct a recount and when not to?” Justice Gashirabake asked.
In response, Justice Mwangusya said judicial officers should not automatically avoid inspecting ballot boxes because of broken seals. He said courts should examine the contents and establish why the seals were broken.
“Let’s look into the ballot boxes, with or without broken seals. If there are broken seals, I will go inside and find out why they were broken. As I had earlier explained, there was a scenario where we found tampered contents in a sealed ballot box,” he said.
The Masaka City Woman MP recount remains one of the most contentious electoral processes arising from the January 2026 General Election.
After a tense three-day recount, Chief Magistrate Asiimwe declared Ms Nameere, who is also Junior Local Government Minister-designate, the winner of the parliamentary seat. The recount overturned the Electoral Commission’s earlier declaration of Ms Nalubowa as the duly elected representative.
The exercise drew criticism from legal observers and election stakeholders, some of whom argued that it appeared to disregard statutory provisions and long-standing judicial precedents established by the High Court more than two decades ago.
The earlier guidance has generally been understood to mean that ballot boxes with broken seals should not be subjected to recounts because the integrity of their contents may have been compromised.
Critics also questioned why the same magistrate had reportedly declined to conduct recounts in at least two earlier applications involving similar circumstances, after finding that ballot box seals had been broken.
Ms Nalubowa has since filed a petition before the High Court challenging the outcome of the recount. The petition is yet to be heard and determined.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Justice-designate Moses Kawumi Kazibwe emphasised the need for timely and credible handling of election disputes, saying elections are central to democratic governance and public confidence in institutions.
“Over the past two days, we have reflected on one of the Judiciary’s most important constitutional responsibilities: the adjudication of electoral disputes. Elections lie at the heart of democratic governance, and election petitions directly affect public confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law,” Justice Kawumi said.
Judiciary records show that 118 election petitions arising from the January 2026 General Election have so far been filed before the High Court.
According to Justice Prof Andrew Khaukha, the Executive Director of the Judicial Training Institute, 107 of the petitions challenge parliamentary election results, while 11 relate to local government elections.
The Judiciary has not yet assigned judges to hear the petitions, setting the stage for an intense period of election-related litigation across the country.