The High Court in Kampala has ruled that the Electoral Commission (EC) rightly disqualified Mathias Walukagga from the Busiro East parliamentary race.
Earlier this month, the EC barred Walukagga from contesting after finding that he lacked the requisite academic qualifications at the time of nomination. Walukagga subsequently challenged the decision in court.
In a ruling delivered on Sunday, Justice Simon Peter Kinobe held that the Electoral Commission acted lawfully in disqualifying Walukagga, whose mature-age certificate had expired at the time of nomination.
“I note that the petitioner’s only academic qualification had expired by the nomination date, rendering both the certificate and the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) equivalence invalid. Legal Notice No. 12 of 2015 sets strict conditions with no provision for extension or exception. It provides that a mature-age entrance examination certificate awarded to a person aged at least 22 years who has passed the examination is valid for only two years from the date of award,” Justice Kinobe ruled.
He further stated that a letter from the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) dated November 11, 2025, suggesting conditional validity if the certificate was used to enroll for further studies, could not override the existing legal framework.
Consequently, the judge emphasized that an expired certificate at the time of nomination cannot result in a valid nomination.
“The petitioner did not possess a valid academic qualification at the time of nomination. His nomination was invalid and was rightly set aside by the first respondent for the above reasons,” Justice Kinobe noted.
