By Angel Lubowa
Kampala
Politics has killed Busiro South former MP and a NUP member, Charles Matovu.
Matovu 41, died yesterday after a short health abnormality allegedly triggered by political stress after he lost his seat to an NRM party member ,Hon Kenan Opio in a manner he described as unjustly.
Matovu, an electrical engineer represented Busiro County South in Wakiso District on the NUP ticket during Uganda’s 11th Parliament.
He contested again in the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election but lost to Opio, who was declared the winner but the late ran to court to oppose the win but lost after court dismissed his attempts.
Matovu obtained 30,487 votes against Opio’s 36,497 and challenged the results in the High Court in Entebbe, alleging that irregularities and non-compliance with electoral laws had affected the outcome.
But on September 25, 2026, the High Court dismissed a separate application by Matovu seeking access to additional electoral materials, ruling that his requests did not identify the documents with sufficient specificity. The ruling concerned the application for the materials and was separate from the substantive election petition.
According to a close confidant, the situations which followed his political unjustly loss affected him so much that it triggered his health wellbeing leading to death.
Politics has been blamed for causing sudden death as was the matter with late Hon Abbey Kafumbe Mukass in 1994 when he lost Kampala central contest to
Hon. Francis Babu and Hon Kezimbira Miyingo in 2006 when Ssejjoba defeated him in Bukoto, Masaka. Both were ministers .
