Tumukunde finally cleared to challenge Museveni in 2021 presidential election

The Electoral Commission (EC) has officially cleared former security minister Lt Gen Henry Kakurugu Tumukunde to run against incumbent Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni in the 2021 presidential election.

At 02:20pm EC chairperson Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama officially declared Lt Gen (Rtd) Tumukunde duly nominated.

Tumukunde was expected to be nominated at 1pm but an anomaly prompted Byabakama and his team to defer the nomination.

But later, Byabakama confirmed that the commission had “verified the documents of Henry Tumukunde Kakurugu and everything is now in order.”

Tumukunde becomes the second candidate nominated, after incumbent Museveni’s nomination hours earlier.

Museveni and Tumukunde were bush war comrades and were allies until 2018 when the head of state fired the retired lieutenant general as his security minister.