Faridah Nambi Kigongo, the NRM’s flag bearer and runner-up in the hotly contested Kawempe North by-election, found herself in the legal hot seat on Tuesday as she faced a fiery grilling in court over her claims of voter disenfranchisement.
Nambi, who lost to National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Elias Nalukoola Luyimbazi — 17,939 votes to her 9,058 — is challenging the results in a dramatic petition before the Civil Division of the High Court. She alleges that thousands of her supporters were denied a chance to vote when results from 14 polling stations were excluded from the final tally.
But what was supposed to be her moment to prove voter injustice turned into a courtroom drama.
As proceedings kicked off before Justice Bernard Namanya, Nambi was immediately called to the witness stand and bombarded with questions from Nalukoola’s lead counsel, Muhammad Mbabazi. The lawyer demanded to know how she calculated that 16,640 voters were disenfranchised — a number she insists could have turned the tables in her favor.
Caught off guard, Nambi was forced to request a ten-minute break — not to rest, but to fetch a calculator. With sweat beading on her forehead, she huddled with her legal team, led by Ahmed Mukasa Kalule, crunching numbers under pressure. When she returned, armed with figures and a renewed sense of urgency, she read out names of the polling stations and attempted to justify the math behind the missing votes.
But the grilling was just heating up.
Nambi was pressed to admit that she wasn’t present at the 14 polling stations and didn’t know if people actually turned up to vote. Lawyers Remmy Bagyenda and Samuel Muyizzi Mulindwa, part of Nalukoola’s legal firepower, repeatedly asked how she could confidently claim those votes would have been hers. Nambi stood her ground, insisting that the disenfranchised voters were largely from her strongholds.
The court also delved into claims of electoral misconduct, including bribery and campaigning on polling day. But when asked for specific details, Nambi often referred to reports from her agents — reports that Nalukoola’s lawyers argued should be thrown out since the agents weren’t present for cross-examination.
Adding to the courtroom tension, Nambi admitted that her agents never returned with official results from the affected polling stations, citing chaos and violence. However, when questioned further, she confessed she didn’t personally witness any of the disorder. The opposing lawyers seized on this, casting doubt on the credibility of her allegations.
Nambi’s political allegiance was also put on the record — she confirmed she ran under the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket.
While the bribery allegations have yet to be dissected in full, the courtroom exchange hinted that Nambi’s evidence heavily relies on second-hand accounts. Nalukoola’s team now wants those statements dismissed as hearsay.
Justice Namanya, holding the legal gavel steady in the storm, reserved his ruling on the admissibility of the disputed affidavits, promising a decision in the main trial.
One thing’s clear: what started as a legal petition quickly turned into a trial by fire, with Nambi under the spotlight — sweating not just bullets, but plasma — as she fought to prove that democracy was derailed in Kawempe North.
