High Court Dismisses Samuel Odonga-Otto's Petition Against MP Christopher Komakech

The High Court sitting in Patongo Town Council, Agago District, has dismissed an election petition filed by former Aruu County Member of Parliament Samuel Odonga-Otto against incumbent MP Christopher Komakech.

In her judgment delivered on Thursday, November 5, 2026, Justice Fatuma Nanziri Bwanika ruled that Odonga-Otto failed to prove that alleged electoral irregularities substantially affected the outcome of the January 2026 parliamentary polls.

Komakech, running on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket, was declared the winner with 10,455 votes, narrowly defeating independent candidate Odonga-Otto, who polled 10,429 votes. The slim 26-vote margin sparked an intense legal battle between the two political rivals, who have frequently locked horns over the Aruu County seat.

Following the narrow defeat, Odonga-Otto initially sought a vote recount at the Pader Chief Magistrate’s court, pointing to hundreds of invalid votes and issues with Biometric Voter Verification Machines. However, that application collapsed after court inspections revealed compromised security seals on ballot boxes from several polling stations. Chief Magistrate Martins Kirya subsequently dismissed the recount request with costs, noting the compromised integrity of the election materials.

Undeterred, Odonga-Otto elevated the matter to the High Court, arguing that the district returning officer wrongfully ignored his recount request and that the compromised ballot boxes tainted the results.

Justice Bwanika noted that the returning officer officially declared Komakech the winner before acknowledging receipt of the recount request, making a recount procedurally impossible at that stage. While acknowledging shortcomings in the handling of ballot boxes by the Electoral Commission, the judge maintained that the petitioner failed to demonstrate how these security lapses altered the final tally.

“The mere fact that the winning margin in the instant election was only 26 votes was not per se evidence that any alleged non-compliance affected the result of the election in a substantial manner,” Justice Bwanika ruled.

The court ultimately dismissed the petition with costs awarded to Komakech. The Electoral Commission, however, was spared from paying costs due to identified lapses in securing the ballot boxes, leaving Komakech securely in office as the Member of Parliament for Aruu County.

Read more details in the original report on The Observer.