Tied vote sends Jinja Northern Division speakership to third re-run
The election, held on July 3, 2026, and presided over by division town clerk Umar Lutalo at the division council offices in Bugembe, kept candidates and their supporters on tenterhooks.
The candidates' agents, Joseph Mpagi (R), flanked by Denis Waheyi, looking critically at the ballot papers that were being counted by the town clerk, Umar Lutalo, for the speakership race on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)
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Councillors in Jinja City Northern Division will have to return for another attempt to elect their speaker after the latest vote ended in a tie.
The closely contested race between Mansoor Ssemuwemba (NUP, Budumbuli West) and Samuel Mukopi alias Kakyamu (Mafubira Ward) ended with each candidate securing 16 votes.
Samuel Mukopi while casting his vote for the speakership of the Jinja City Northern Division Council, where he tied with his rival at the Bugembe division offices on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)
The election, held on July 3, 2026, and presided over by division town clerk Umar Lutalo at the division council offices in Bugembe, kept candidates and their supporters on tenterhooks.
It was the third time councillors had convened to elect a speaker without reaching a conclusion because of procedural issues.
The first attempt took place during the swearing-in ceremony presided over by Jinja Chief Magistrate Fionah Angura on May 22, 2026, in Budondo, where four candidates contested for the position.
Mansoor Ssemuwemba, one of the candidates in the speakership race, participating in the voting process at the Bugembe division offices on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)
They were Mukopi, Ssemuwemba, Hilary Besweri Naita, the youth councillor representing the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), and Joseph Mpagi of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
Both Naita and Mulopa were NRM members, but party leaders in Jinja city held a caucus and endorsed Naita for the speakership. However, Mulopa opted to contest as an independent candidate.
The initial results placed Ssemuwemba in the lead with 12 votes, followed by Mukopi with 11, while Naita and Mpagi secured 6 and 3 votes, respectively.
Ayub Wabika, the Jinja City Northern Division mayor casting his vote at the Bugembe division offices on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)
However, procedural concerns arose because Ssemuwemba failed to obtain an absolute majority of more than 50 per cent of the total votes cast by all council members, as required under Section 29B, subsection 13(11), of the Local Governments Act governing the election of lower city division speakers.
This necessitated a run-off between the two candidates with the highest number of votes until one secured the required majority.
The division is supposed to have 33 councillors, but the number was reduced to 32 following the death of elderly councillor Majid Kawanguzi shortly after the general elections.
The chief magistrate subsequently suspended the meeting after interpreting the law.
A second meeting, scheduled for May 28, 2026, to conclude the election of the speaker and deputy speaker, also failed.
The town clerk, Umar Lutalo and the Jinja City legal officer, Gertrude Nabirye, who had turned up to preside over the swearing-in of the speaker for Jinja City Northern Division in Bugembe on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)
The session had been scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm, but Lutalo arrived at 5:50 pm and apologised to the frustrated councillors, explaining that he had been delayed in a security meeting related to the same session.
He later rescheduled the meeting to July 3, 2026, which was attended by Jinja resident city commissioner Salim Kumakech and NRM city administrator Asuman Kambo.
Lutalo said consultations with the Solicitor General established that the Chief Magistrate was not mandated to preside over the election of a lower local government speaker. Instead, the responsibility rested with the area division town clerk.
After the order paper was adopted, FDC councillor Denis Waheyi of Ivunamba ward nominated Mukopi, drawing murmurs from opposition councillors and members of the public in the gallery, while Mpagi nominated Ssemuwemba.
The anti-riot and regular police, who had been deployed while on standby to avert any possible chaos during the Jinja City Northern Division speakership polls in Bugembe on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)
Since neither candidate agreed to withdraw, Lutalo announced that another run-off would be held. He also proposed extending the meeting by one hour to conclude the business.
His proposal was, however, rejected after Mpagi and division mayor Ayub Wabika argued that the procedures did not give the town clerk authority to extend the sitting.
“You are supposed to get a consensus from the house, and this is the mandate of the speaker who is not in place. I don’t want to be part of such illegalities,” Mpagi said.
Given that the previous repeat election had also resulted from procedural issues, Annet Kiteko of Kibibi ward proposed postponing the sitting. Wabika (NUP) also urged that the wishes of the council be respected, a position Lutalo accepted.
“We had finished this business, but it is our city clerk who caused this mess; we don’t want to act against the law,” Wabika said.
Wabika alleges external interference
Wabika expressed concern that external actors were influencing councillors with money in an attempt to help the ruling party secure the speakership.
“The issue has turned commercial and political; majority councillors are being influenced by external forces with money to determine our speaker. It is my prayer that they back off and let us decide who should be our next speaker," he said.
He noted that although elected leaders were already in office, the division could not have a fully constituted council until both the speaker and deputy speaker were elected.
As a result, he said he had been unable to appoint his executive committee or constitute sectoral committees required for the smooth running of council business.