BUHWEJU
The High Court in Bushenyi has dismissed a petition challenging the election of Deogratious Atuhaire as Buhweju District Chairperson, bringing relief to the incumbent after months of legal proceedings.
In a judgment delivered on November 13, 2026, Lady Justice Mary Ikit ruled that petitioner Philip Muhamya had failed to prove that the January 22, 2026 election was conducted in violation of electoral laws or that any irregularities substantially affected the final results.
Atuhaire was declared the winner with 22,231 votes, defeating Muhamya, who garnered 19,754 votes, a margin of 2,477 votes.
The results were gazetted by the Electoral Commission on April 10, 2026, and Muhamya filed his petition on April 24, seeking to have the election nullified.
He asked the court to overturn Atuhaire’s victory and declare him the duly elected chairperson. Alternatively, he sought a fresh election conducted using the Biometric Voter Verification System (BVVS).
The petition, registered as Election Petition No. 001 of 2026, raised several allegations, including voter bribery, multiple voting, interference with voters and irregularities in the declaration of results.
During the hearings, Muhamya’s lawyers presented electronic evidence, including videos, photographs and audio recordings, to support the allegations.
However, on September 29, the court ruled that the materials were inadmissible because they had not been properly authenticated. Justice Ikit cited missing certificates of extraction, gaps in the documentation of how the recordings had been transferred from mobile phones to computers and CDs, and the absence of affidavits from some translators.
Muhamya’s lawyer, Andrew Byamukama, had maintained that the petition was also supported by documentary evidence from the Electoral Commission. He questioned the accounting for ballot papers and the declaration of results forms from Kabuga and Katagata polling stations.
The court had previously encouraged the parties to explore mediation, but Muhamya opposed the proposal, arguing that the dispute concerned the electoral rights of Buhweju residents.
With the petition dismissed, Atuhaire’s election victory remains intact.
