Kampala, Uganda- The Minister for the Presidency, Milly Babirye Babalanda, who is also an aspiring Member of Parliament for Budiope West County in Buyende District, has denied allegations brought against her by opponents who claim she was responsible for irregularities in the recently held NRM party primary elections.
The confrontation happened on 31st July 2025 during an NRM election tribunal meeting at Plot 30 Kyadondo Road in Kampala, where Kyoto Ibrahim and Mutagaya Dennis officially challenged Babalanda’s victory.
Speaking to the press after the hearing, the two candidates alleged that Babalanda used her political influence to deploy Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and security operatives who disrupted the 17th July 2025 parliamentary primaries, actions they claimed had a significant impact on the final results.
Babalanda was declared the winner after securing 90,832 votes (80.2%), followed by Kyoto with 10,200 votes, while the incumbent came in third with just 9,000 votes.
The minister faces serious accusations, including; The alleged death of two people after being hit by her vehicle on polling day, Voter bribery, Violence and vote tampering, and Deployment of security officers who reportedly disrupted the entire voting process.
In her defense, Babalanda dismissed the allegations as “escapist tactics” by opponents who were embarrassed by her overwhelming victory.
“Only a fool would fail to see that my margin was big enough to silence the men,” she said.
Regarding the incident in which two people were killed, she clarified that the vehicle involved belonged to a pastor. Police reportedly recovered satanic charms (“irizi”), two machetes, and sticks from the car, which is currently impounded at Buyende Central Police Station as investigations proceed.
Her lawyer, George Muhangi, told reporters that the constituency had 277 polling stations, and the minister had “a field day” in most of them, securing the majority of the votes. He urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition and declare Babalanda the official NRM flag bearer.
However, the tribunal has reserved judgment and given both parties seven days to await the verdict.
