Over half of Uganda’s 21.6 million registered voters across the country last week lined up at polling stations to elect a President and Members of Parliament (MPs).
However, some of the candidates remained incarcerated, meaning they were unable to cast ballots for themselves, but relied on family members, party officials, and supporters to campaign, mobilise, and protect their votes. Most of the detained aspirants, especially from the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party, were arrested either before nomination or during the campaigns, and remain on remand on charges their leaders and rights groups say were politically-motivated and intended to weaken challengers ahead of the vote.
Among those incarcerated was Mr Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro, the National Unity Platform (NUP) parliamentary candidate for Nakawa East and the party’s deputy spokesperson. He was arrested on September 8, 2025, days before the nomination, and charged with unlawful drills and conspiracy to commit a felony. Mr Mufumbiro has remained on remand since, with his case still pending. Mr Mufumbiro, who sought to replace Mr Ronald Balimwezo, who vacated the Nakawa East seat to contest in the Kampala Lord Mayoral race, contested with Mr Michael Kabaziguruka of People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), Ms Winfred Nakandi (Democratic Front), Mr Moses Okwera Mugisha (Forum for Democratic Change), and the eventual winner, Mr Fred Ruhindi (National Resistance Movement).
Another incarcerated candidate is Samuel Mugeni Makokha, the PFF parliamentary candidate for Busia Municipality, who was arrested last month and remanded to Luzira prison on charges of mistreason allegedly committed between 2023 and 2024.
Mr Kenneth Kato Mufumbiro, Alex’s twin brother and campaign manager, described a parliamentary race in Uganda as ‘very tight’ and ‘only second to the presidential race’. He said they had intensified their grassroots campaigns to secure the NUP card endorsement for the seat; however, within weeks before party endorsement and building momentum on the ground, his brother was arrested, which thrust him directly into the political limelight, a space he wasn’t familiar with.
‘Personally, I wasn’t into elective politics like my twin brother,’ he said on Tuesday. Unlike Alex who has been in politics from as early as his secondary and university days, having contested in internal party elections for the different parties he had served, including FDC’s youth wing and DP as its deputy spokesperson, Kenneth is a novice by all accounts. As per their strategic plan, he said he was to serve as Alex’s official agent but ended up playing several roles, including ‘standing in’ for him.
‘The whole experience was new to me, but the only available option was to push on, given the enthusiasm the voters had shown us. This whole experience came with social, economic and psychological challenges,’ he added.
According to Kenneth, Alex had developed networks given his position and public appeal, which were all dampened by his arrest and incarceration. ‘Initially, a number of our supporters believed he would not be nominated by the Electoral Commission. I personally had to be in all corners of the constituency, which implied that I had to halt my income-generating ventures,’ Kenneth added.
He further revealed that, as per standard practice, candidates make promises on specific issues by coming up with tailor-made interventions which could only be made by Alex, which affected the campaign.
‘Alex is a brand whose shoes were too big to fill. He is a pioneer member of the People Power movement that morphed into the NUP was in charge of ideology before being appointed party deputy spokesperson, and throughout the years, his brand became bigger that his charismatic style of leadership was an uphill task to be matched within three months,’ he said.
Kenneth added that his brother was charged a few weeks before the nomination, and that whereas he had to traverse the constituency, he also had to be at Kanyanya’s Magistrate Court for the ‘illegal drilling’ case and again at the Nakawa Magistrate Court for the ‘inciting people to murder’ case.
Within a three-month period, Kenneth said he has been to both courts ‘over 20 times’, while unsuccessfully trying to seek justice for his twin brother. From a social standpoint, Kenneth says Alex has a very young family. ‘In December, he celebrated his second wedding anniversary; so, while campaigning, I had to be mindful of his young family by offering social support and encouragement. Taking care of his wife and children whilst running a tense campaign was complex.’
Wife campaigns
Makokha’s wife, Ms Jamelia Kaggwa, earlier said running a campaign from behind bars comes with extraordinary legal, logistical, and humanitarian costs. ‘Makokha was stripped not only of his freedom, but ability to mobilise funding and access to his bank accounts, leaving him unable to pay legal fees or sustain his campaign,’ she said. She would later appeal to friends, family, well-wishers, comrades, and supporters for financial support, saying ‘every contribution helps to keep the campaign alive, the message visible, and the hope intact.’
After Mr Makokha lost to NRM’s Sowedi Ismail Mulemya, Mr Makokha’s campaign team conceded defeat, saying: ‘The campaign was unlike any other, fought under the weight of incarceration.’ Mr Makokha’s brother, James Okuku, said the incarceration of their candidate affected their strategy and support structures, including finance and transport, among others. ‘Makokha was the face of the campaign, and after he was arrested and incarcerated, his opponents issued propaganda that he had exited the race,’ Mr Okuku said.
He added that a strategy to thrust their father and former Busia Municipality Mayor, Mr Micheal Mugeni, into the campaign boomeranged as some voters thought he was the one contesting instead of his 46-year-old son. Mr Okuku further explained that on polling day, all their agents conspicuously went missing from 80 polling stations across Busia Municipality, which posed serious logistical challenges as they were forced to find substitute agents at short notice. He also decried the alleged commercialisation of politics, saying on polling day, some of the voters asked for facilitation (transport) to enable them go to the polling stations to vote for their candidate.