NUP’s Nalubowa Withdraws Court Application After Judge Kinobe Declines to Recuse Himself

The opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate in the Masaka City Woman MP election, Rose Nalubowa, has withdrawn her High Court application challenging the vote recount after Justice Simon Peter Kinobe declined to recuse himself from the case.

Nalubowa had filed the application seeking a review of a decision by Masaka Chief Magistrate Albert Asiimwe, who ordered a vote recount following a petition by NRM candidate Justine Nameere.

Nalubowa had initially been declared winner of the January 15 elections by the Electoral Commission, prompting Nameere to challenge the results in court.

Contested Recount

Chief Magistrate Asiimwe ordered a recount despite what Nalubowa’s legal team cited as serious irregularities, including ballot boxes without seals, boxes without ballot papers, and boxes allegedly containing votes for only one candidate.

After a four-day recount exercise, Asiimwe declared Nameere the duly elected Woman MP for Masaka City.

According to the recount results, Nameere garnered 25,502 votes, Nalubowa received 23,176, Juliet Kakande of the Democratic Front polled 6,136 votes, while independent candidate Nanyonga Sauya obtained 5,921 votes.

However, the recount figures raised fresh controversy. The results allocated 60,735 votes to candidates alone, excluding invalid ballots and votes from several polling stations whose ballot boxes were discarded due to tampering or irregularities.

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This total exceeded the 59,499 votes announced by the Electoral Commission on January 15 as the total number of votes cast in the race, including invalid ballots. Additionally, EC records show that 59,342 voters participated in the presidential election in the same electoral area—figures Nalubowa argues are irreconcilable with the recount outcome.

High Court Challenge and Recusal Request

Citing these discrepancies, Nalubowa petitioned the High Court seeking to nullify the recount results declared by the Chief Magistrate.

She also applied for Justice Simon Peter Kinobe to recuse himself, arguing that his prior involvement in partisan politics—including contesting in NRM primaries—could compromise impartiality.

Justice Kinobe declined to step aside, prompting Nalubowa to withdraw her application.

Explaining her decision, Nalubowa alleged systematic interference in the judicial process.

“Before the filing of the application for recount, there was a returning officer who was removed, and a new one brought in. The magistrate was also removed. Today, we found a new judge who is still on probation. When we scrutinized his history, he is an NRM cadre—a judge who stood as a Member of Parliament on an NRM ticket,” Nalubowa said.

Nameere Responds

In response, Justine Nameere dismissed Nalubowa’s legal action as futile and warned against further court challenges.

“We should stick to what the Chief Magistrate Albert Asiimwe told us—that legal questions are solved like political questions. It will save us a lot of emotional attempts and people coming to court just for showbiz,” Nameere said.

She added that she would take “stringent measures” if Nalubowa continues to pursue legal action.