Muyanja Ssenyonga heads to court over contested defeat

Mukono, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Johnson Muyanja Ssenyonga, a former Mukono District LC V candidate, has decided to petition the court to challenge what he describes as “blatant and shameless electoral fraud” that allegedly robbed him of victory in Friday’s district chairperson elections.  Addressing a press conference at his residence in Kauga, Muyanja said he was duly declared the winner by the Electoral Commission (EC), only for the results to be controversially altered hours later in favour of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Francis Lukooya Mukoome.

According to Muyanja, the Returning Officer, Emily Amongin, initially announced him as the winner with 51,686 votes, ahead of Lukooya, who had polled 50,254 votes, while Lauben Ssenyonjo came third with 2,995 votes. However, shortly after the declaration, events took a dramatic turn. Muyanja alleged that senior NRM officials, led by Mukono District NRM chairperson Hajji Harunah Ssemakula, two unidentified army officers, Captain Reagan Muganza, and Mukono District Deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Esther Baroma, forcefully locked themselves in the returning officer’s office for nearly three hours.

He said none of the candidates or their agents were allowed into the meeting. “The atmosphere was tense and frightening. Our supporters waited outside, not knowing what would happen next,” Muyanja said. He added that after the closed-door meeting, Amongin emerged visibly shaken and announced a second set of results amid chaos, this time declaring Lukooya Mukoome the winner. The revised tally gave Mukoome 52,523 votes, Muyanja 52,105 votes, and Ssenyonjo 3,095 votes. Our reporter couldn’t independently verify the claims.

Muyanja described the move as illegal, noting that electoral law does not permit the declaration of two different winners in the same election. “Normally, when someone loses an election, they go to court. But in this case, they didn’t wait. They stormed the returning officer’s office in broad daylight for the whole world to see, and we all understood what followed,” he said.

He further alleged that the outcome had been premeditated. Muyanja claimed that when results from Koome Sub-county began coming in, Mukono Municipality Deputy RDC Godfrey Mwogeza was seen with the municipal election supervisor, Robert Ssekirya, assuring people that everything would be done to declare Mukoome winner. Muyanja also accused the Electoral Commission of fabricating results from three villages in Mukono Municipality—Nantabuulirwa, Nassuuti, and Nakabago.

He said that in Nantabuulirwa I village, the revised results claimed he received zero votes, something he described as impossible. “I have all my Declaration of Results (DR) forms from every village in Mukono. There is nowhere Mukoome defeated me,” Muyanja said. “I am going to court because I have evidence. I will also secure lawyers for all councillors who were similarly affected.”

He dismissed claims that the final recount showed he lost by 50 votes, insisting that he had beaten Lukooya by a wide margin. He warned that such irregularities risk discouraging voters and undermining public confidence in the electoral process. Concerns were also raised by National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate for Nama, Paul Kawombe, who said he expected to be declared the winner based on tallies and DR forms, only for the NRM candidate, Mulamira Gasheegu, to be announced instead. Kawombe was reportedly violently removed from the EC offices by security personnel as he protested the decision.

Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze Bakireke condemned what she described as interference by NRM officials in the electoral process, accusing them of coercing the returning officer into abandoning established procedures. She said she was already aware of other incidents of chaos during the elections, including attempted vote theft in Nakisunga on polling day. Mukono North MP Abdallah Kiwanuka Mulimamayuuni called on security agencies to carry out an independent investigation into unidentified individuals who allegedly attacked the Electoral Commission offices on Saturday night in an attempt to cause chaos, but were repelled by security forces.

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