“NUP’s Silent Syndicate? How Walukaga Was Edged Out of the Busiro East Race”

The Electoral Commission recently disqualified singer-turned-politician Mathias Walukaga from the Busiro East parliamentary race, citing expired academic documents. His IUIU aptitude test certificate, which some confused with a Mature Age Entry, had legally expired before nomination, making him ineligible.

While sections of the opposition quickly blamed the government, another angle is emerging: Did NUP’s top leadership already know about the issue?

The Busiro East flag process was one of the party’s most anticipated, with three heavyweight contenders — Medard Lubega Sseggona, Walukaga, and Emmanuel Magoola. Despite strong competition, NUP dropped Sseggona and handed the ticket to Walukaga.

Flanked by NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya, Walukaga vowed to challenge the decision in the High Court. But several legal analysts argue that the case is unwinnable and warn that those fuelling his hope may be misleading him.

Just a day after the disqualification, Emmanuel Magoola held a press conference declaring himself the unofficial NUP flag-bearer. He revealed that Walukaga’s paperwork problem had been discussed in party meetings, and he personally questioned it — only to be told to keep campaigning.

This raised questions:

If the party knew, why let Walukaga proceed? Why hand him the card only for the EC to throw him out?

Some voices now claim NUP may have allowed Walukaga to run knowing he would be disqualified — a cleaner way to remove him without internal riots, given his popularity and lyrical influence.

Many blame Sseggona, but no evidence links him to the matter. Magoola even stated Walukaga was meant to join him at the briefing but had a health scare and was rushed to hospital hours before.

Magoola’s immediate celebrations, with supporters holding processions in Busiro, made him appear unusually confident — as though he expected this outcome long before it happened.

With the court process likely extending into next year, Walukaga is effectively out of the race. This has intensified accusations that NUP played him, only to turn around and blame the EC.

Walukaga has said he sold his assets to fund his campaign. Now he appears stranded and outplayed by the party. Those blaming the EC and government of being behind this move it was the same apparatus that Elias Nalukoola Luyimbazi got cleared for the Kawempe north by election and Joel Ssenyonyi being cleared after applying for a constituency tat doesn’t exist.

As the dust settles, supporters are left questioning whether the real issue lies within the EC — or inside their own party’s internal calculations.