Africa-Press – Uganda. Igara West legislator Louis Gaffa Mbwatekamwa, along with Mubende District LCV chairperson aspirant Vicent ‘Kissanja’ Tumusiime Gahanga, dramatically walked out of the tally centre on Thursday, protesting what they described as widespread vote rigging and result manipulation.
The incident occurred at Mayor’s Gardens in Mubende Municipality, where tallying for the hotly contested National Resistance Movement (NRM) primaries was underway.
The two politicians accused Mubende District Elections Officer Amos Natuliinda of announcing falsified results in favor of incumbent district chairperson Micheal Muhereza Ntambi.
“I want to object to what you’re reading because what we have is different from what you’re telling us. We want to know where you got those results because we have all the declaration forms,” Mbwatekamwa said before leaving the tally center in protest.
The visibly frustrated MP, who served as Kissanja’s chief campaigner, was later involved in a confrontation with security after he attempted to voice his concerns more forcefully.
Mbwatekamwa is a former Kassambya County MP.
Natuliinda, however, dismissed the complaints and advised the aggrieved parties to seek redress through the party’s legal channels.
“Whoever is not satisfied with the results is free to petition the tribunal. You just want to delay the tallying,” said Natuliinda, who maintained that the process was proceeding legally and fairly.
As the results continued to be announced, Mbwatekamwa and his team accused Natuliinda of acting on instructions from Kassambya County MP David Kabanda, whom they alleged was using his influence to skew the outcome.
“We have decided to leave the tally center because the elections officer, Mr. Amos Natuliinda, is working on the orders of MP David Kabanda and is not willing to listen to our concerns. We are going to petition the tribunal,” Mbwatekamwa declared.
Speaking separately, Vicent Nuwagaba, another Kissanja supporter, appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to intervene, warning that Kabanda’s growing influence could cost the NRM support in the region.
“We want to request the president to save us from Kabanda because he is becoming a problem. If he remains in our district, NRM is losing support,” Nuwagaba warned.
Meanwhile, Henry Muhumuza, a local coordinator, accused Ntambi of manipulating registers and inflating votes in his strongholds.
“In most polling stations in my area of Kigando, the results were manipulated. For example, where Ntambi got about 40 votes, he was instead given 700. We are not comfortable with these results,” Muhumuza said.
The Mubende LCV race features four candidates: incumbent Micheal Muhereza Ntambi, Vicent Gahanga Tumusiime Kissanja, Ali Ayebazibwe, and Alex Pius Ssengonzi.
At the time of reporting, tallying was still ongoing, with tensions high and opposition teams vowing not to recognize the outcome without a thorough review.
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