Two candidates contesting for the Isingiro North Constituency Member of Parliament seat have accused incumbent MP Bright Rwamirama, who also serves as the State Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, of frustrating their candidature even after nomination.
Speaking to the Nile Post, James Atwine, whose nomination was annulled by the Electoral Commission (EC) in a letter dated November 10, 2025, accused Minister Rwamirama of influencing the decision.
“Your hand in annulling my nomination will not be forgotten and forgiven. Isingiro stands today as a painful testament to what happens when power is used for personal or partisan gain rather than for service,” Atwine said.
He added that under Rwamirama’s leadership, critical sectors in the district had been neglected.
“Under your watch, sectors have been starved. Education, health, roads, and water access remain neglected. Agricultural support and markets are weak, and meaningful youth employment is simply absent,” he said.
Atwine, who lost in the NRM primaries and returned as an independent candidate, further accused the minister of divisive politics.
“You ignored people’s cries for work and purpose, reducing them to political tools recruited for rallies and sectarian games rather than offering them jobs, training, and dignity.
You have promoted politics of religion and division, sowing sectarianism and hate where unity and development were desperately needed,” Atwine added.
Meanwhile, Best Arnold Ankunda, the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) candidate contesting for the same seat, also accused Minister Rwamirama of frustrating his candidature by coercing his two nominators into retracting their signatures.
“He called them to the office of the RDC and intimidated them, coaxing them to allege that they had forged their signatures. Therefore, my nomination is under scrutiny, and they are trying to run Col. Rwamirama as a sole candidate,” Ankunda said.
Ankunda further revealed that he had been summoned by the EC headquarters in Kampala.
“Yesterday, I received a call from the Electoral Commission Kampala, summoning me over allegations that my nominators’ signatures were forged,” he said.
According to the Electoral Commission, Atwine’s nomination was annulled on the basis of a report from the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).
“The respondent, who was duly nominated by the Returning Officer on October 22, 2025, relied on, among others, letters of verification of results from UNEB,” the EC stated.
“On November 4, 2025, the Executive Director of UNEB wrote to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission indicating that the letters of verification of results in favour of Atwine James, dated June 14, 2025, and October 15, 2025, had been withdrawn by UNEB, rendering them invalid.”
The Commission added that,
“In view of the foregoing, under MIN. COMP. 042/2025, the Commission resolved that given the stated invalidity, the respondent’s nomination is annulled.”
Efforts by the Nile Post to get a comment from Minister Bright Rwamirama were futile, as his known phone numbers were unreachable.