A Kampala-based advocate has filed a petition with the Electoral Commission Tribunal, challenging the nomination of the incumbent Rushenyi Constituency member of Parliament, Naome Kabasharira, alleging fraudulent documentation.
John Kamurinde, a registered voter, submitted the petition on Nov. 14, 2025. He argues that the National Resistance Movement, or NRM, nominated the wrong individual and that her documentation is riddled with discrepancies, according to the documents filed with the commission.
Identity Dispute
Kamurinde claims the official endorsement letter signed by NRM Secretary General Richard Twondongo Awanyi on Sept. 20, 2025, named “Naome Kabasharira” as the flag bearer. However, he asserts that the Electoral Commission’s records do not recognize “Naome Kabasharira” as a voter.
The petitioner contends that “Naome Kabasharira” and “Kabasharira Naome” are two distinct legal entities. He argues that because the NRM endorsed “Naome Kabasharira,” the nominee, “Kabasharira Naome,” did not come forward under any party ticket or as an independent candidate, rendering her continued use of NRM symbols illegal.
Furthermore, Kamurinde states that the voter information records for the person listed in the nomination were born in 2067, which would make the person nonexistent and ineligible to vote or be nominated for Parliament under Ugandan law.
He noted that the academic documents submitted to the commission bear the name “Kabasharira Naome,” but the person endorsed and nominated, “Naome Kabasharira,” took an oath on Sept. 17, 2025, before a commissioner for oaths, stating her name as “Naome Kabasharira.”
Academic Record Queries
The petition also scrutinizes Kabasharira’s academic documents, stating that the verification of results from the Uganda National Examinations Board shows she sat for ordinary-level exams in 1981 and advanced-level exams in 1984.
The MP’s National Identification card lists her date of birth as Dec. 10, 1967.
Kamurinde argues that these dates suggest an impossible academic trajectory, stating that to achieve these results, she would have begun school at age 2, completed primary school at 9, completed senior four at 13 and completed senior six at 16.
“The government official age for beginning school is 6 years, even pre-primary education learning normally starts at 3 years,” the petition states. “There is no way honorable Naome could have begun school at 2 years in a government school vide Rugarama Primary School where she studied from.”
The lawyer also requested that Kabasharira be compelled to produce her Primary Leaving Examination result slip to prove she completed primary seven before proceeding to secondary education. He mentioned that the Electoral Commission had previously found her in 2001 to have used results belonging to another candidate to gain Senior one admission.
Kamurinde is not the only person challenging the nomination. The National Unity Platform candidate for Rushenyi Constituency, Kamugira Twine’Manzi, has also filed a separate petition with the Electoral Commission regarding the same issue.
