UHRC Chairperson Wangadya consults with Commissioner Kaheru during the COSASE meeting. Kampala, Ugnada | URN | The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Chairperson, Mariam Fauzat Wangadya, broke down in tears on Thursday while appearing before the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), saying she had been pushed “to the edge” by months of what she described as a coordinated smear campaign against her. Wangadya had appeared to explain her failure to appear before the committee on Wednesday during a meeting intended to discuss the 2025 auditor’s report on her commission.
The committee, chaired by Muwada Nkunyingi, also sought explanations over allegations that more than 200 human rights files had been closed without due process, the commission had not held meetings since March 2026, and there were persistent governance and maladministration concerns within the institution. Opening her submission, Wangadya apologized for recent public remarks she acknowledged were “beneath my character,” saying they were made under immense pressure. She dismissed reports that she had gone into hiding, was under investigation, or had fled the country, saying she had spent the last five months responding to what she termed false accusations instead of leading the commission’s work.
“Today I should be supervising investigations, talking to refugees, interacting with stakeholders, constituting tribunal panels and addressing major human rights issues. Instead, I have spent the past five months defending myself before every media house in Uganda,” she said. Wangadya added that she had been summoned by three parliamentary committees within two days, yet none of the invitations related to Uganda’s prevailing human rights concerns.
“All the invitations are about responding to false and petty accusations. She accused at least three commissioners of abandoning their constitutional responsibilities in favour of a sustained campaign to undermine her leadership. “The work of at least three members of the Commission is to conspire against the chairperson, orchestrate a smear campaign, place defamatory material in the media, and lodge baseless complaints against me with every investigative agency in the land,” Wangadya alleged.
She further claimed that commission meetings had become platforms to “humiliate, harass and ta…
Summary from source