By The High Court has dismissed an election petition filed by Ivan Bwowe challenging the nomination of Nakawa Division West parliamentary candidates, including incumbent MP Joel Ssenyonyi, ruling that the Electoral Commission lawfully corrected a clerical error that did not prejudice any candidate or voter.
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In a judgment delivered on January 8, 2026, Justice Collins Acellam upheld the Electoral Commission’s decision to maintain the nominations, rejecting claims that candidates were improperly nominated for a non-existent constituency referred to as “Nakawa West.”
Bwowe had argued that nomination papers submitted by Ssenyonyi and other candidates listed the constituency as “Nakawa West” instead of the official “Nakawa Division West,” rendering the nominations invalid. He sought the nullification of their candidacies ahead of the January 15 parliamentary elections.
However, the court found that the discrepancy amounted to a minor clerical error that was lawfully corrected by the Electoral Commission under its statutory powers.
“The failure to fill in the correct name of the constituency… is a minor irregularity or misnomer which could be cured by the Commission,” Justice Acellam ruled, citing Sections 15 and 29(2) of the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The judge agreed with the Electoral Commission and the respondents that “Nakawa West” and “Nakawa Division West” are often used interchangeably and refer to the same constituency. He noted that all official control forms and accompanying nomination documents consistently indicated the constituency as Nakawa Division West.
Justice Acellam further observed that Bwowe himself was duly nominated as a candidate for Nakawa West, despite later claiming that the constituency did not exist. He faulted the petitioner for failing to raise the alleged anomaly at the time of nomination, either before the Commission or the court.
“The Petitioner did not however raise that ‘anomaly’… because then he would also not be nominated for Nakawa Division West constituency as he so avers,” the court noted.
In dismissing the petition, the judge emphasized that courts must prioritize substantive justice over procedural technicalities, warning against using legal technicalities to deny voters their democratic right to choose their representatives.
“To allow the appeal… would be denying the voters of Nakawa Division West constituency the opportunity of choosing their representative to parliament,” Justice Acellam ruled, adding that the petitioner’s case amounted to “an audacious attempt to sneak to parliament” without a popular mandate.
The court relied on precedent, including Kasangaki Diana v Fulgensia Tumwesigye (2025), which affirmed that clerical errors that can be explained or corrected should not invalidate nominations.
Justice Acellam concluded that the petition lacked merit and dismissed it in its entirety, upholding the Electoral Commission’s decision and ordering each party to bear its own costs.
The ruling clears the way for Joel Ssenyonyi and other candidates to contest for the Nakawa Division West parliamentary seat in the January 15 general elections.
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