Court proceedings in the Kawempe North by-election petition took a dramatic twist on Tuesday when Faridah Nambi, the NRM candidate and runner-up in the March 13 vote, was asked mid-testimony to pause and fetch a calculator to justify her claims of widespread voter disenfranchisement.
Faridah Nambi , who polled 9,058 votes against National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Elias Nalukoola Luyimbazi’s 17,939, appeared before Justice Bernard Namanya at the Civil Division of the High Court.
Her petition centers on the claim that 16,640 voters were disenfranchised due to the omission of results from 14 polling stations a number she argues could have changed the outcome.
However, during a tough cross-examination led by Nalukoola’s counsel, Muhammad Mbabazi, Nambi struggled to provide evidence backing her figures. Justice Namanya allowed a ten-minute adjournment for Nambi to consult her legal team led by Ahmed Mukasa Kalulenand retrieve a calculator to recalculate the alleged missing votes.
Armed with the calculator, Nambi returned to court and read from documents prepared by her lawyers, listing the polling stations she claimed were excluded. She maintained that including those results could have narrowed the 8,881 vote margin.
But the defense remained unconvinced. Mbabazi argued that even with those votes included, Nambi’s claims did not mathematically or legally justify overturning Nalukoola’s victory. He labeled her assertions as speculative and insufficient to merit an annulment.
Further pressed by lawyers Remmy Bagyenda and Samuel Muyizzi Mulindwa, Nambi admitted she could not confirm whether the 16,640 alleged voters actually turned up at the polling stations. Nor had she personally visited any of the disputed locations on polling day.
She also reiterated claims that her agents could not return results due to violence and irregularities, yet failed to provide specifics about the alleged disturbances. Under questioning, she acknowledged that she did not witness any of the incidents firsthand.
Nambi reaffirmed her NRM affiliation and accused Nalukoola of voter bribery and illegal polling-day campaigning allegations that have yet to be fully addressed in court.
In a separate move, Nalukoola’s legal team asked the court to dismiss affidavits from several of Faridah Nambi’s witnesses, citing their absence for cross-examination and arguing that their statements amounted to hearsay. Justice Namanya has reserved his ruling on the matter.