Court ousts Ogwal, declares Okello duly elected Lira City West councillor

23 October 2026, 2:16 pm

By Frank Oyugi

Lira, Uganda — The Lira Chief Magistrate’s Court has set aside the election of Ogwal Geoffrey Bosco and declared Daniel Okello the validly elected directly elected councillor for Lira City West Division.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, 23 October 2026, His Worship Daniel Epobu Kiboko, the Chief Magistrate of Lira, ruled that Okello had successfully proved non-compliance with electoral laws, falsification of declaration of results forms and the unauthorised alteration of vote tallies by the Electoral Commission.

The election, held on 22 January 2026, initially ended with the Electoral Commission’s returning officer, Aggrey James Ipeto, declaring Daniel Okello the winner with 4,301 votes against Ogwal Geoffrey Bosco’s 4,288 votes.

However, about 30 minutes after declaring Okello the winner and issuing him a Transmission of Results form (PEX 123), the returning officer made a second declaration naming Ogwal as the winner with 4,288 votes, while Okello’s tally was reduced to 4,281, giving Ogwal a seven-vote lead.

The Electoral Commission and Ogwal argued that 20 votes had been deducted from Okello following a verbal complaint about an error at Tedam/Ellwa polling station, where Okello was allegedly recorded as having received 49 votes instead of 29.

In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Kiboko dismissed the respondents’ claims, highlighting critical failures and illegalities by the Electoral Commission.

The court held that once the returning officer had declared Okello the winner, his statutory authority to alter the results had ceased (functus officio). Changing the results behind closed doors without hearing Okello violated Article 28 of the 1995 Constitution, which guarantees the right to a fair hearing.

The court also noted that there was no documentary evidence, form or valid record showing that 20 votes had been legitimately deducted from Okello. The certified Declaration of Results form for Tedam/Ellwa already showed that he had received 29 votes, meaning the original tally of 4,301 votes was accurate.

The court further found evidence that the Electoral Commission had issued conflicting Declaration of Results forms at polling stations, including Cuk Ebange Open Market, where Okello’s 125 votes were reduced to 25, and Bung B, where his 35 votes were reduced to 33. It concluded that the duplicate forms had been created to artificially lower Okello’s total and favour Ogwal.

Additionally, the court identified serious numerical inconsistencies among the Transmission of Results forms, the summary of results and the official Uganda Gazette. The Electoral Commission had neither reconciled nor explained the discrepancies.

Concluding that the electoral irregularities had substantially affected the final outcome, Chief Magistrate Kiboko declared Daniel Okello the validly elected directly elected councillor for Lira City West Division with 4,301 votes. The court also ordered Ogwal Geoffrey Bosco to vacate his council seat immediately.

The Electoral Commission was directed to officially gazette Daniel Okello as the elected councillor with immediate effect. The petitioner was also awarded the full costs of the petition against both Ogwal Geoffrey Bosco and the Electoral Commission.

During the proceedings, the petitioner was represented by advocates Egaru Emmanuel, Obua Khamis and Innocent Apuny of M/s Egaru & Co. Advocates. Ogwal Geoffrey Bosco was represented by Okwir Patrick of M/s Akoko, Ojok, Omara & Co. Advocates, while the Electoral Commission was represented by Kwemboi Joshua of M/s Roots Advocates.