By Aggrey Baba
Kawempe South MP (NRM) Madina Nsereko was on Monday conspicuously absent from the High Court as her lawyers struggled to secure more time to respond to an application by her election rival Fred Nyanzi (NUP) who is demanding that she produce the original declaration of results forms (DR-Forms) on which she based her disputed victory.
The development occurred before Justice Farida Bukirwa of the Civil Division of the High Court, where Nyanzi’s legal team, led by Counsel Alex Luganda, returned to push for the Electoral Commission and Nsereko to surrender original election records that the National Unity Platform candidate says could expose what happened during the January 15th, 2026 Kawempe South MP election.
Madina Nsereko’s lawyers, led by David Kamukama, told court that their client was away on a duty trip and asked for more time to consult her before filing their response.
“My Lord, Madina is not around because she is on a duty trip,” Kamukama told court, asking for at least one week to prepare their response.
The absence became particularly significant because Nyanzi’s application specifically targets documents held by both Nsereko and the Electoral Commission.
Luganda told court that his team wants Nsereko to produce the original declaration of results forms from polling stations, while the Electoral Commission is being asked to produce its original records, including the official report book, tally sheets, scanner report and accountability records for election materials.
The Nyanzi camp says the originals are critical because documents in its possession allegedly differ from certified copies supplied by the EC.
Luganda questioned why Nsereko, who claims to have won the election, would not produce the original forms from her polling agents.
“Everybody had agents. In her defence she says she had agents at every polling station. So bring your original DRF forms, upon which you won,” Luganda said.
He said Nyanzi’s team possesses original declaration forms belonging to several candidates who contested against Nsereko, including candidates who obtained relatively few votes, raising questions as to why the alleged winner should not similarly have the original records.
The Electoral Commission also asked for more time, with its lawyer, Counsel Abubaker Kayondo, telling court that several Commission officials dealing with the documents were away, in Adjuman where the Commission is currently conducting a by-election following the death of area MP Moses Ali.
Kayondo said that EC first needed to understand the application before taking a position on whether the requested documents could be produced.
The judge, Farida Bukirwa subsequently directed the parties to file their responses by Friday, September 18.
Nyanzi’s lawyers had pushed for an even quicker timetable, saying they were ready to respond immediately once the respondents filed their papers.
The document battle is now shaping up as a potentially important preliminary fight in the wider election petition.
Counsel Robert Lutaro, another member of Nyanzi’s legal team, later told journalists that the petitioners believe the election was marred by widespread irregularities.
Lutaro alleged that more than 3,000 votes cast for Nyanzi were altered and allocated to Nsereko, while Nsereko’s votes were allegedly transferred in the opposite direction.
He also alleged manipulation of figures at dozens of polling stations through what he described as inflation of Nsereko’s votes and reduction of Nyanzi’s votes.
“These are all the known electoral offences that were committed in Kawempe, and even new ones,” Lutaro said.
The allegations have not been proved and remain contested, with the respondents yet to file their responses to the latest application.
Nyanzi’s substantive election petition is scheduled to return before Justice Bukirwa on September 30.
The immediate question, however, is whether the court will order Nsereko and the Electoral Commission to open up the original electoral records demanded by Nyanzi’s lawyers, something the judge said would be decided upon when court the case returns on 30th.
For the NUP camp, those documents could provide the paper trail needed to test whether the result announced in Kawempe South reflected the votes actually recorded at polling stations. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
