Jet Tumwebaze has spent years defending President Museveni’s election victories in court. He was part of the legal team from Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA) that represented Museveni in the 2016 presidential election petition filed by former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi.
But last week, the lawyer found himself on the other side of the fence, crying foul after losing the Mawogola North seat to Museveni’s brother, Godfrey Aine Kaguta aka Sodo.
In a strongly worded statement issued after the January 15 vote, Tumwebaze accused the army, election officials and what he called goons linked to the ruling party of openly stealing his victory through violence and ballot stuffing.
Tumwebaze said the campaign had been energetic and hopeful, lasting just over three months, and had promised a new political dawn for Mawogola North. That hope, he said, was crushed on polling day when security forces allegedly took over the electoral process.
According to Tumwebaze, soldiers descended on polling stations early in the morning, chased away his agents and beat voters who tried to resist. He claimed that by mid morning, most polling stations were under military control.
He alleged that ballot papers were seized from election officials, pre ticked in favour of the ruling NRM candidate and later stuffed into ballot boxes in broad daylight.
At several polling stations, he said, voters were turned away after being told that ballot papers had run out.
In one of the more striking claims, Tumwebaze said that at many polling stations, the number of votes counted exceeded the number of registered voters. He also alleged that ballot papers were available for sale on the black market and that someone linked to the Electoral Commission (EC) contacted him with an offer to sell ballots on the eve of polling.
Tumwebaze laid the blame squarely at the feet of President Museveni’s three step brothers, Toyota, Nzeire and Sodo, whom he accused of supervising the violence. He said his team spent the day moving agents from police cells to hospitals, while others remained in detention without charge.
For many observers, the irony was hard to miss. Tumwebaze is a partner at Kampala Associated Advocates, a law firm that has for years been part of Museveni’s legal armoury in election petitions. KAA has repeatedly appeared in court to defend the president against challenges from opposition candidates, helping to uphold disputed election results.
That long association has earned the firm a reputation as one of the ruling establishment’s most trusted legal defenders. Tumwebaze himself has been a familiar face in politically sensitive litigation tied to State House interests.
Now, he says, the same system he once defended has turned against him.
The Mawogola North race was heated long before polling day. Tumwebaze had petitioned both the Electoral Commission and court, arguing that Sodo lacked the academic qualifications required to stand for parliament.
The challenge put the president’s family under uncomfortable scrutiny and raised the political temperature in the constituency. Although Sodo’s nomination was ultimately upheld, the dispute set the tone for a contest that was always going to be bruising.
Mawogola North has previously been the scene of violent elections involving members of the First Family, making it one of the country’s most politically sensitive constituencies. In 2020, Sodo and Shartsi Musherure, Sam Kutesa’s daughter faced off in an ugly party primary which was eventually decided by Museveni.
Shartsi’s sister, Charlotte Kutesa, is the wife of Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the first son.
In his statement, Tumwebaze quoted German pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous warning about silence in the face of injustice, suggesting that Ugandans should not ignore abuses simply because they are not the immediate victims.
Yet for critics of the government, Tumwebaze’s complaints are nothing new.
Agather Atuhaire, a poltical activist, said Tumwebaze’s complaints vindicated people who have called the entire election a sham.
“It seems we will all only fight together after we have all been affected by the impunity together.. and we are getting there,” she wrote on X in reply to Tumwebaze’s statement.
Tumwebaze is not a career opposition figure. He is a lawyer whose firm has helped keep Museveni in power through the courts and who now says the same machinery has denied him victory.
He has now joined a long list of politicians claiming to have been robbed at the ballot box. The difference is that this time, the complaint comes from “inside the house.”
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