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EC secretary, five others suspended

The Electoral Commission (EC) Secretary, Mr Leonard Mulekwah. 

What you need to know:

  • The EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama confirmed that Mr Mulekwah was suspended to pave the way for an internal investigation to take place.

The Electoral Commission (EC) Secretary, Mr Leonard Mulekwah and five other election officials have been suspended on allegations of involvement in irregular disbursement, utilisation and accountability of some EC funds.
“Sir, I reported to office and to you after my leave on Thursday 9th January 2025 and you informed me that the Commission has resolved to suspend me from office to pave way for investigation, “reads an internal memo which Mulekwa wrote to the EC Chairperson and copied to the Deputy Chairperson, EC Commissioners, Directors and Heads of Departments dated January 13, 2025.

In the memo,  a copy of which has been seen by this publication, Mr Mulekwah further says “To which , I was later on served by the EC Registry with a letter from you alleging that I was involved in irregular disbursement, utilization and accountability of some funds.”
Mr Mulekwah, who’s the head of EC secretariat has been engaged in electoral work for years.
In July 2020, Mr Mulekwah was appointed to replace the then long serving Sam Rwakoojo who was fired alongside three other top EC staff.
 
The EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama confirmed that Mr Mulekwah was suspended to pave the way for an internal investigation to take place.
 
“It is true he has been suspended and that’s the standard procedure. If you are under investigation you vacate office to enable smooth conduct of those investigations… Those are internal investigations by the Commission on issues involving funds and so on and so forth, “Justice Byabakama said.
 
Without giving details for fear of interfering with the investigations, Justice Byabakama said there are also other members of staff within the Commission who are under the same investigation and have also been sent on leave.
“He is not the only one; there are other people who are also on leave, who are also subject to those investigations and there over five,” he added.

This is not the first time Mr Mulekwah has been sent on leave. In October 2024 he went into what officials described as an ‘official leave’ amid reports that he was a subject of a formal corruption investigation and the EC’s Director of Operations Mr Richard Kamugisha held office during his absence. 
It was then alleged that the Inspectorate of Government found Mulekwah and other senior EC officers culpable of inflating the cost of fuel used in election activities.

About how much they are being accused of misappropriating, Justice Byabakama said, “I cannot give you the combined total because there are different transactions which are being investigated with different figures.”
According to Justice Byabakama, a special team within EC has been set up to conduct the investigations and that the Commission will wait for their report expected “soon.” 

About Mulekwah

In 1993, Mulekwah was an electoral documentation officer for Pallisa District where he coordinated the compilation of a handwritten register for the constituency assembly elections.

In 1999, he was appointed  Pallisa District returning officer.

In 2002, he was transferred to Election Commission headquarters in Kampala and appointed deputy head of election management department. 

In 2004, Mulekwah was appointed to head the voter education and training department. 

 In 2007, Mr. Mulekwah  was appointed director operations until his appointment as acting EC secretary.

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