The court found that she had not submitted the required certificate to the Electoral Commission at the time of nomination.
The High Court in Iganga has nullified the election of Bugweri District Woman MP Nankwanga Stella Maris over failure to present the required academic qualifications at the time of nomination, declaring her closest challenger, Aminah Mutesi Nalugoda, the duly elected MP.
In a judgment delivered on November 13, 2026, Justice Simon Peter Kinobe ruled that Nankwanga was not qualified to contest in the January 15, 2026, parliamentary elections because the academic documents she presented to the Electoral Commission did not meet the legal requirements for nomination.
The court consequently set aside her election and declared Nalugoda, who finished second, the duly elected Woman MP for Bugweri District.
Nankwanga had been declared winner with 15,151 votes, beating Nalugoda, who obtained 13,683 votes. Another candidate, Mercy Walukamba, came third with 10,767 votes.
The dispute centred on Nankwanga’s academic qualifications, particularly a Post Basic Diploma in Public Health and a Certificate in Mental Health Nursing, which she presented during nomination.
Nalugoda argued that the Post Basic Diploma in Public Health presented by Nankwanga was not recognised by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) as an equivalent of Advanced Level education.
She also challenged Nankwanga’s failure to present a certificate of equivalence for her Certificate in Mental Health Nursing.
In her defence, Nankwanga maintained that she possessed the minimum academic qualifications required to contest for Parliament. She told the court that she had an Ordinary Level certificate, a Certificate and transcript in Mental Health Nursing from Butabika School of Psychiatric Nursing, and a Diploma in Public Health from Medicare Health Professionals College.
She explained that the college had made errors in the description of her academic award and subsequently corrected the documents to reflect a Diploma in Public Health.
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However, the court established that Nankwanga requested the college to correct her academic documents on December 3, 2025, after the parliamentary nominations held on October 22 and 23, 2025.
The college responded on January 5, 2026, confirming that she had obtained a Diploma in Public Health and undertaking to issue corrected academic documents.
Justice Kinobe held that the subsequent correction could not retrospectively cure the failure to present the required academic documents at the time of nomination.
The judge further noted that the NCHE had confirmed that the Post Basic Diploma in Public Health presented during nomination was not accredited.
On the Certificate in Mental Health Nursing, the court observed that although the 2015 legal notice recognises certain nursing qualifications as equivalent to Advanced Level, Nankwanga was required to obtain and present a certificate of equivalence from the NCHE.
The court found that she had not submitted the required certificate to the Electoral Commission at the time of nomination.
The judge also faulted the Electoral Commission for failing to determine a formal complaint lodged by Nalugoda’s agent, Byakuno Majidu, challenging Nankwanga’s academic qualifications before the elections.
The commission argued that it had invited the complainant and Nankwanga to attend a hearing on January 12, 2026, but the complainant failed to respond to the invitation.
However, Justice Kinobe held that the failure by Nankwanga to appear at the hearing could not extinguish a complaint raising a fundamental question about her eligibility to contest.
The judge observed that the commission had a legal obligation to examine and determine the complaint, adding that the failure to resolve it allowed an unqualified candidate to participate in the election.
The court further ruled that the law requires parliamentary candidates to possess the prescribed academic qualifications at the time of nomination and that documents obtained or corrected later cannot validate an otherwise defective nomination.
In determining the appropriate remedy, Justice Kinobe relied on provisions of the Parliamentary Elections Act that empower the High Court to declare another candidate duly elected where the declared winner is found not to have been qualified.
He noted that Nalugoda had obtained the second-highest number of valid votes and would therefore become the candidate with the highest lawful votes once Nankwanga was excluded from the contest.
The judge said ordering a fresh election would impose additional costs on taxpayers and could trigger unnecessary tensions among voters when the law provided for the runner-up to take the seat.
The court consequently allowed Nalugoda’s petition, declared Nankwanga’s election invalid and ordered the Electoral Commission to recognise the petitioner as the duly elected Woman MP for Bugweri District.
The first respondent and the Electoral Commission were ordered to share the costs of the petition equally.