Two-year rule ends Walukaga’s MP bid; Court rules
The High Court has upheld the disqualification of Walukaga Mathias from the Busiro East parliamentary race, ending his legal challenge against a decision by the Electoral Commission to cancel his nomination over academic qualifications.
Walukaga was initially nominated on 23 October 2025 to contest for Member of Parliament for Busiro East Constituency. However, his nomination was later challenged by a registered voter, Lubowa John Kilimiro, who petitioned the Electoral Commission alleging that Walukaga lacked the minimum academic qualifications required under the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The complaint was heard by the Electoral Commission in November 2025, and on 25 November 2025, the Commission cancelled Walukaga’s nomination, finding that his Mature Age/Aptitude Test Certificate had expired before nomination.
In his appeal to the High Court, Walukaga argued that the Commission acted illegally by disregarding a National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) certificate which had equated his qualification to Advanced Level standard. He further contended that the Commission had no authority to question academic documents already verified by NCHE.
At the centre of the dispute was a Mature Age certificate issued by the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) on 12 June 2023. Under Legal Notice No. 12 of 2015, such certificates are valid for two years. The certificate therefore expired on 12 June 2025, four months before nomination.
Walukaga relied on the position taken by NCHE and IUIU, which stated that a Mature Age certificate expires only if it is not used to enroll for further studies. He argued that because he enrolled at St. Lawrence University in August 2023 and was pursuing a bachelor’s degree, his certificate remained valid.
However, in a detailed judgment, Justice Simon Peter M. Kinobe rejected that argument. The court held that while NCHE has authority to equate academic qualifications, it cannot vary or override statutory law. The judge ruled that the law fixes the validity of a Mature Age certificate at two years from the date of award, without any exception based on university enrollment.
Justice Kinobe further held that once the Mature Age certificate expired, the NCHE equivalence certificate could not stand independently, since equivalence depends on the continued validity of the underlying qualification.
The court also confirmed that the Electoral Commission acted within its constitutional mandate to hear and determine pre-election nomination disputes and did not exceed its powers in cancelling Walukaga’s nomination.
In dismissing the petition, the court concluded that Walukaga did not possess a valid academic qualification at the time of nomination, and that the Electoral Commission’s decision was lawful. Each party was ordered to bear its own costs, with the judge noting that the case raised issues of public importance.
