In one of those happy days after getting the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket for Busiro East, Mathias Walukagga once said that politics “should not be a preserve of only educated people like lawyers.”
Walukagga, who was addressing supporters, got a big cheer and it seemed nothing would stop his march to the 12 th Parliament.
Today, those parliamentary ambitions were halted after the High Court confirmed a decision by the Electoral Commission to strike him from the race. The ruling, delivered by Justice Simon Peter Kinobe, upheld the commission’s decision to denominate Walukagga on the ground that he did not meet the minimum academic qualifications required to contest for parliament
For Walukagga, a popular musician turned politician, the decision is a personal blow given that he was widely viewed as the favourite in a constituency where NUP enjoys deep grassroots support.
Hope
Walukagga’s entry into the Busiro East race had been framed as a story of political courage. He was stepping into territory long dominated by seasoned politicians, including the incumbent Medard Sseggona, a respected lawyer and outspoken legislator. Within NUP, however, relations between the party leadership and Sseggona had soured. That fallout created an opening and Walukagga emerged as the party’s choice.
To many supporters, he symbolised renewal. He spoke the language of the youth, leaned on his music career to mobilise crowds and presented himself as an outsider ready to challenge old political habits. Few doubted his popularity.
But his academic credentials were found wanting.
When he was nominated on October 23, 2025, four months had passed since the expiry date printed on the mature age certificate. While he had enrolled for a degree course at St Lawrence University, Walukagga could not prove that he had a A-Level equivalence.
When a voter petitioned the EC, it agreed and cancelled Walukagga’s nomination. He appealed to the High Court, hoping the judges would rescue his candidacy but Kinobe agreed with the earlier decision.
The court found that although Walukagga had indeed sat and passed the mature age test, and although National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) had equated it to Advanced level, the law was clear that such a certificate is valid for only two years from the date of issue.
By the time Walukagga was nominated, that two year window had closed. Justice Kinobe rejected arguments that enrolling at a university extended the validity of the certificate, ruling that letters from universities could not override the express provisions of the law.
So legally, the matter may now be settled. Politically and humanly, it is harder to ignore the sense of misfortune surrounding Walukagga’s predicament.
This was not a case of forged papers or deliberate deception. The court acknowledged that Walukagga had genuinely sat the test, passed it and even gone on to enrol for a university degree. His mistake was one of timing and interpretation. In a system where electoral laws are unforgiving, that proved fatal.
There is also a lingering sense that Walukagga walked into a trap not entirely of his own making.
Questions
Within NUP circles, uncomfortable questions are now being asked about the party’s internal processes, particularly the role of its Electoral Management Committee (EMC). Walukagga’s selection was not accidental. It was shaped by internal party politics, especially the leadership’s fallout with Medard Sseggona.
In the rush to field a new flag bearer in Busiro East, critics argue, the party failed to conduct thorough vetting of Walukagga’s academic credentials. The documents were available. Yet the party endorsed him and presented him to the electorate as its candidate.
That failure has now cost both Walukagga and the party dearly. Whatever the outcome of the 2026 race Busiro East, the winner will not be a member of NUP. So that is one position lost.
Yet for aspirants like Walukagga with questionable educational backgrounds, the ruling shows that the law offers little room for mercy. Popularity, sometimes, may count for nothing if your academic papers are not in order.
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