The High Court has rejected a legal challenge by musician-turned-politician Walukaga Mathias, confirming the decision by the Electoral Commission to nullify his nomination as a parliamentary candidate for Busiro East Constituency.

In a ruling delivered on December 21, 2025, Acting Judge Simon Peter M. Kinobe found that Walukaga failed to meet the constitutionally required academic standards at the time he was nominated to contest for Parliament.

The dispute stemmed from a complaint lodged by voter Lubowa John Kilimiro, who questioned Walukaga’s eligibility shortly after nominations. On November 25, 2025, the Electoral Commission upheld the complaint and cancelled the nomination, a decision Walukaga later challenged before the High Court.

Walukaga had been nominated on October 23, 2025, relying on a Mature Age/Aptitude Test certificate awarded by the Islamic University in Uganda in June 2023, together with an equivalence certificate issued by the National Council for Higher Education in June 2025. However, evidence before court showed that the Mature Age certificate expired in June 2025 months before nomination day.

In his judgment, Justice Kinobe addressed key questions including whether the Electoral Commission had the authority to hear the complaint and whether it acted outside its mandate. He ruled that under Article 61 of the Constitution of Uganda, the Commission is empowered to resolve nomination disputes before elections.

The court further clarified that the Commission did not encroach on the role of NCHE. Instead, it properly examined whether the documents presented were valid on the date of nomination. Justice Kinobe emphasized that the law limits the validity of a Mature Age certificate to two years, with no legal extension for electoral purposes.
Walukaga’s argument that subsequent university enrollment preserved the validity of the certificate was dismissed.

The judge noted that correspondence from IUIU written after the certificate had already expired could not override clear statutory requirements.
“The petitioner lacked a valid academic qualification at the time of nomination,” the court held, adding that the expired certificate also rendered the NCHE equivalence ineffective for purposes of contesting for Parliament.

The High Court therefore affirmed the Electoral Commission’s decision to cancel Walukaga’s candidature. However, the judge declined to award legal costs, observing that the case raised novel questions of public interest that had not previously been conclusively settled by Ugandan courts.