Luyimbazi Elias Nalukoola

Luyimbazi Elias Nalukoola is a Ugandan lawyer, and politician. He served as the Member of Parliament for Kawempe North Constituency in Kampala^[1] from 13 March to 26 May 2025,^[2][3] After Justice Namanya Bernard nullified the election declaring the position vacant.^[4][5]

He assumed office following after him being declared winner by the electoral commission in by-election with 17,764 votes on March 13, 2025 held after the death of the former MP, Muhammad Ssegirinya, in January 2025.^[6][7][8][9]

Elias Nalukoola went to Kawempe Islamic Seminary, Kyerima Umea Primary School, and Kawempe Muslim Primary School for his primary school education.^[10] He later joined St. Paul SS Mpererwe then Kawempe Muslim Secondary School for his A-Level.^[10] He attained his law degree from Makerere University and a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the Law Development Centre (LDC).^[10] Elias began his legal career in 2014 with Mayanja, Nakibuule and Co. Advocates as a legal assistant before establishing his own private practice.^[11]

Nalukoola, as a human rights advocate, gained recognition as a human rights advocate for his courageous and eloquent defense of marginalized communities.^[11] His legal practice focuses on human rights and constitutional law, civil litigation, commercial and land transactions. He has participated in numerous cases, including arguments before the Ugandan Supreme Court.^[11] He was part of the legal team that challenged the amendment of Article 102(b) of the Ugandan Constitution, which removed the age limit cap for presidential candidates. He has also been instrumental in defending Muslim suspects accused of involvement in the murders of Muslim clerics.^[11]

Prior to his parliamentary role, Nalukoola served as the Deputy Speaker of Kawempe Division in 2006 to 2011.^[10] He also held the position of National Legal Advisor for the Democratic Party (DP) in Uganda a position he resigned from in 2023 before becoming an advisor to the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA).^[10][12] In February 2025, he was nominated by the National Unity Platform (NUP) as their candidate for the Kawempe North by-election, following the death of MP Muhammad Ssegirinya.^[13][14] During his nomination process, Nalukoola faced challenges, including alleged abduction of his aide and interference by security operatives.^[15] Despite these obstacles, he secured his nomination and subsequently won the by-election on March 13, 2025 against 9 other contestants (Namabi Faridah Kigongo (NRM), Hanifah Karadi Murerwa (Independent), Sadat Mukiibi aka Kalifa Aganaga (FDC), Henry Mubiru Kasacca (DP) ) among others.^{[6][11][16][17][18]}

Elias Nalukoola is known for his commitment to human rights and justice. He co-founded Nalukoola, Kakeeto Advocates & Solicitors and serves as a board member of the Buganda Cultural and Development Foundation (BUCADEF). He also participates in various school boards and engages in motivational speaking.^[11] He also organized Nalukoola Kawempe North Sports Tournament 2024-2025 that kicked off on 22 December 2024.^[19]

Nalukoola filed a lawsuit against the Ugandan government in March 2025, claiming that he was tortured by operatives of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JATT) during his nomination process.^[6][20] He is pursuing compensation and a public apology, claiming that his rights to dignity and freedom from torture were infringed upon.^[6][20]

According to Section 59 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 2005, which states that after the election, the Electoral Commission shall declare in writing and publish the result within 48 hours after the close of polling.^[21] Nalukoola's path actually took to eventually end up becoming a member of Parliament clearly turned out to be much more complex because the Electoral Commission just could not seem to fully complete the process of officially publishing his name after his clear victory.

Even though he was declared winner, and the commission eventually announced him the winner within 18 hours after the polling stations had closed down, the really important step of adding his name in the National Gazette still remained incomplete.^[22] This administrative issue essentially prevented him from being able to move forward with the swearing-in ceremony. The situation led both Nalukoola and some other National Unity Platform (NUP) representatives to go ahead and confront the Electoral Commission in what ended up becoming a protest meeting, as they tried to figure out why there seemed to be such an unusual delay in what should have been a much more straightforward process.^[21]

On March 20, 2025, National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate in the Kawempe North by-election, Ms Faridah Nambi filed through her lawyers Atwijukire Dennis Advocates, filled a petition to the Kawempe Chief Magistrate to seek a vote recount which she withdrew on March 25, 2025 after the Electoral Commission had gazetted the results with Nalukoola as the winner.^[18]

Nalukoola was finally sworn in as the Member of Parliament for Kawempe North in the 11th Parliament of Uganda on March 26, 2025. The swearing-in ceremony was conducted by Speaker Anita Among in her chambers, as Parliament was in recess at the time.^[21][23] This was after she received received official communication from the Electoral Commission along with a copy of the gazetted results.^[21][24][25]