Parliament Committee Rejects UHRC Chairperson's Solo Appearance, Demands Full Commission

Legislators on the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights were left unsatisfied after Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Chairperson Justice Mariam Wangadya appeared before them alone. The committee promptly sent her away, insisting that matters concerning the commission’s operations require the presence of all commissioners.

Wangadya had been summoned to provide an account of the UHRC’s recent activities. However, the session quickly devolved into a dispute over her solo appearance, with Members of Parliament (MPs) questioning the collective nature of the commission’s mandate.

Further complicating matters, committee members grilled Wangadya about a reported letter of resignation she had penned to President Yoweri Museveni. They sought clarity on the circumstances surrounding this letter and why significant commission decisions were allegedly being made without the full board’s input.

Responding to the outcry over the missing commissioners, Wangadya stated that she had invited her colleagues to the meeting, but they had refused to attend. She described their absence as a sign of “indiscipline” and a primary cause of the commission’s operational paralysis.

This explanation did not sit well with the committee members, some of whom viewed the commissioners’ absence as a deliberate obstruction of Parliament’s oversight functions. Consequently, the committee chair ruled that the hearing could not proceed and rescheduled the meeting for when the full UHRC leadership is present.

“The committee cannot proceed to examine matters concerning the management of this Commission when only one person is present. We need the full Commission here so that we can get answers and take appropriate action,” the chairperson declared, emphasizing the need for collective accountability. The meeting will only resume once all commissioners are available to address the questions posed by the legislators.

This article is based on information from Nile Post.