By Kabuye Ronald
The Masaka Chief Magistrate, Herbert Asiimwe, has ordered a vote recount in the disputed Kalungu West parliamentary election.
The recount follows an application filed by independent candidate Ismail Ssemakula, who narrowly lost to the incumbent Member of Parliament, Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu of the National Unity Platform (NUP).
According to the Electoral Commission’s official tally, Ssewungu was declared the winner with 10,106 votes, edging Ssemakula, who polled 10,069 votes—a margin of just 46 votes. The results were announced on Saturday afternoon by the Kalungu District Returning Officer, Teddy Nabukenya.
Other contenders in the race included Twaha Kiganda Ssonko of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), who received 2,212 votes; Michael Birimuye Matovu of the Democratic Front with 555 votes; and James Barikuddembe of the Democratic Party, who garnered 137 votes.
Ssemakula has since challenged the results, alleging that the tallying process was marred by arithmetic errors, some of which he claims were deliberately made in favour of the incumbent. He is demanding that the Electoral Commission reviews all Declaration of Results forms from the 94 polling stations in Kalungu West Constituency to verify the figures and correct any discrepancies.
The court-ordered recount is scheduled to take place on Friday.
During the hearing, Ssewungu’s legal team, led by Caleb Alaaka, raised a preliminary objection, contesting the jurisdiction of the Masaka Magistrate’s Court and arguing that the matter should instead be handled by the Kalungu Magistrate’s Court. However, Chief Magistrate Asiimwe dismissed the objection, noting that Kalungu District does not have a Chief Magistrate’s Court but only lower courts, making Masaka the appropriate forum to hear the application.
