Court upholds election of NUP's Tebandeke in Bbaale County
Justice Philip Mwaka dismissed the petition filed by Arthur Kiiza, who had challenged Tebandeke's victory in the January 15, 2026, parliamentary elections.
Bbaale County MP Charles Tebandeke with his lawyer Gilbert Bukiya oustside court in September. (File Photo)
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The High Court in Mukono has upheld the election of National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Charles Tebandeke as the Member of Parliament for Bbaale County in Kayunga district, dismissing a petition challenging his victory.
Justice Philip Mwaka dismissed the petition filed by Arthur Kiiza, who had challenged Tebandeke's victory in the January 15, 2026, parliamentary elections.
Justice Mwaka held that Kiiza had failed to prove allegations that Tebandeke made false statements about his personal character and conducted a sectarian campaign.
The Electoral Commission declared Tebandeke the winner with 17,507 votes against Kiiza's 12,246. The results were gazetted on March 2, 2026.
Kiiza challenged Tebandeke's election on grounds that he had allegedly made false statements about his character, contrary to Section 92(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, and conducted a sectarian campaign, contrary to Section 41(1) of the same law.
He claimed that Tebandeke referred to him as the biblical character Goliath while portraying himself as David, and made other statements that allegedly portrayed Kiiza as dishonest, a land grabber and an outsider in the constituency.
However, Tebandeke denied the allegations, saying his campaign messages were based on issues and policies affecting the electorate. He also denied that his references to David and Goliath were directed at Kiiza.
Kiiza presented witness affidavits and video recordings in support of his petition. The recordings included videos downloaded from TikTok and others allegedly recorded during a campaign rally at Kisalizi trading centre on November 15, 2025.
The court examined the recordings and found that the petitioner had not established their authenticity, integrity and reliability.
Consequently, the court held that the petitioner had failed to prove the alleged false statements and sectarian campaign to the required standard.
The judge dismissed the petition, declared Tebandeke duly elected as the Member of Parliament for Bbaale County and ordered Kiiza to pay the costs of the petition.
Background
The petition arose from the parliamentary election held on January 15, 2026, in which Tebandeke was declared the winner with 17,507 votes.
Kiiza came second with 12,246 votes, followed by Ronald Kyagaba with 3,074, Bukhari Gamba with 2,222, Ronald Mukasa Maiteki with 1,434, George Wilson Kumama Nsamba with 1,254, Abdu Mulika with 121 and Muhamadi Kwiri with 119 votes.
The petitioner did not challenge the polling process or the declared election results but based his case on alleged election offences and illegal practices during the campaigns.