Kampala– The High Court has upheld the Electoral Commission’s decision to bar musician Mathias Walukagga from contesting in the 2026 parliamentary elections for the Busiro East constituency, after finding that he lacked the minimum academic qualifications required by law at the time of nomination.
In a ruling delivered on Sunday, December 21, 2025, via the Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECCMIS), High Court Judge Simon Peter Kinobe dismissed Walukagga’s petition challenging his disqualification from the ballot.
Walukagga had sought court intervention after the Electoral Commission (EC) rejected his nomination, following a complaint filed by John Lubowa Kilimiro, a registered voter. Kilimiro contended that Walukagga did not meet the academic qualifications prescribed for a Member of Parliament.
Court records indicate that Walukagga sat for the Mature Age Entry Examination on February 25, 2023, scoring 54 percent. He was issued a certificate on June 12, 2023, which, under the law, was valid for two years and therefore expired on June 12, 2025. The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) issued him with an equivalence certificate on June 11, 2025—just one day before the expiry of the Mature Age certificate.
However, Walukagga’s nomination for the Busiro East parliamentary seat took place on October 23, 2025, nearly four months after the expiry of the Mature Age certificate.
In his ruling, Justice Kinobe held that by the time of nomination, Walukagga’s only academic qualification had already expired, rendering both the Mature Age certificate and the NCHE equivalence invalid.
“From the above timeline, I note that the petitioner’s only qualification had expired by the nomination date, rendering both the certificate and the NCHE equivalence invalid. Legal Notice No. 12 of 2015 sets strict conditions with no provision for extension or exception,” the judge ruled.
Justice Kinobe further explained that the law clearly provides that a Mature Age Entry Examination certificate is valid for only two years from the date of award and cannot be extended.
Consequently, the court found that Walukagga’s nomination was invalid and that the Electoral Commission acted lawfully in removing him from the list of duly nominated candidates.
On the matter of costs, the court declined to award costs to the respondents, noting that the case raised issues of public importance that had not previously been tested in Ugandan jurisprudence. Each party was therefore ordered to bear its own costs.
John Lubowa Kilimiro and the Electoral Commission were listed as respondents in the petition.
