Minister of State for Local Government Justine Nameere has celebrated a major legal victory after the High Court dismissed an election petition challenging her election as the Woman Member of Parliament for Masaka City. Nameere expressed gratitude to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, saying they had given her kind consideration during her political struggles. Her celebration followed a ruling delivered electronically on October 21, 2026, by High Court Judge Bernard Namanya.
The petition had been filed by National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Rose Nalubowa, who sought to overturn Nameere’s election results and have herself declared the rightful winner. However, Justice Namanya rejected the request, ruling that Nalubowa had not provided sufficient grounds to overturn the declared results. The court also ordered Nalubowa to pay the costs of the petition, marking a significant development in the contest over the Masaka City parliamentary seat.
In explaining the decision, the judge addressed concerns surrounding the recount figures and votes that had been excluded during the electoral process. Although the court noted that the recount had been conducted in violation of electoral law following the compromising of electoral materials, it found that Nalubowa had failed to prove that the certified recount figures were erroneous. The court also considered whether the excluded votes could have substantially changed the final outcome.
According to the judgment, Nalubowa had a certified tally of 23,176 votes, while Nameere had 25,502 votes. Even if all 1,353 excluded votes had been added to Nalubowa’s total, she would have reached 24,529 votes, leaving Nameere ahead by 973 votes. Based on these figures, the court rejected the request to overturn the election and dismissed the petition.
Reacting to the ruling, Nameere described the outcome as a victory against what she called political enemies and forces that had attempted to frustrate her political ambitions. In a message celebrating the decision, she declared, “MY TESTIMONY: GOD HAS DONE IT!” She credited God for her success and said she had remained at peace throughout the legal battle despite what she described as attempts to undermine her political mandate.
Nameere also revisited the challenges she claimed to have faced during the National Resistance Movement (NRM) primaries and the subsequent election contest. She alleged that individuals within her own party had joined forces with opposition figures to work against her. Describing the alleged actions as political collusion, she accused some people of hiding within the NRM while cooperating with individuals from NUP. These claims formed part of her personal account of the political difficulties she said she had endured.
The minister specifically thanked President Museveni for giving her what she described as “kind consideration” after he learned about her political struggles in Masaka. She also praised General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces and leader of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), for ordering an investigation into alleged political cooperation between internal party actors and opposition figures in Masaka City. The allegations and the status of the reported investigation were not independently established in the information provided.
Concluding her message, Nameere encouraged young people interested in joining politics to remain firm in their faith, citing the Bible verse Isaiah 54:17 and declaring that no weapon formed against her would prosper. With the High Court having dismissed Nalubowa’s petition and ordered her to pay the legal costs, Nameere can celebrate the ruling in her favour. The judgment resolves the petition before the court, while the minister’s separate allegations of political collusion remain matters requiring independent verification.
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