Masaka High Court has dismissed an election petition filed by former Kalungu East parliamentary candidate Vincent Ssempijja challenging the election of National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Yusuf Kiruruuta Nkerettanyi as the constituency’s Member of Parliament.
Lady Justice Joyce Kavuma dismissed the case after finding that Ssempijja’s petition was filed one day outside the statutory 30-day deadline prescribed for challenging parliamentary election results.
Kiruruuta was declared the winner of the January 15, 2026 election after securing 15,473 votes, against Ssempijja’s 13,219 votes.
The Electoral Commission subsequently published the results in the Uganda Gazette on March 2, 2026, meaning that the deadline for filing an election petition expired on April 1.
However, Ssempijja’s petition was lodged and stamped on April 2, prompting him to apply for an order validating the petition or extending the filing period by one day.
The court record showed that the fees were paid on April 1, but the petition itself was lodged on April 2.
Justice Kavuma rejected the argument that payment of the filing fees within time amounted to filing the petition within the statutory period.
“Payment of court fees does not stop limitation time from running nor does it validate a suit filed after the limitation period has expired,” Justice Kavuma ruled.
The judge said the law requires an election petition to be filed within 30 days after publication of the election results in the Gazette.
“Therefore, the Election Petition No. 0016 of 2026 subject of this application was filed on the 02/04/2026 which was outside the 30 days’ period prescribed by the statute,” she said.
Ssempijja had also asked the court to extend the deadline, arguing that the one-day delay resulted from an inadvertent mistake by his former lawyers.
His petition had raised allegations including vote inflation and miscomputation, falsification of electoral results, tampering with electoral materials, violence, intimidation, multiple voting, voter impersonation and bribery.
However, Justice Kavuma held that the High Court had no power to extend the statutory deadline because the Parliamentary Elections Act does not provide for such an extension.
“The period of 30 days within which to file a petition is set by statute and this Court has no residual power or inherent jurisdiction to enlarge a period laid down by statute,” she ruled.
The judge consequently dismissed Ssempijja’s application and struck out the election petition challenging Kiruruuta’s victory.
Each party was ordered to bear their own costs.
