Wangadya attacks NUP for providing “false list” of missing persons

The Chairperson of Uganda Human Rights Commission Mariam Fauzat Wangadya has attacked National Unity Platform NUP, for furnishing the Commission with a list of false missing persons.

Wangadya said all the names provided of the missing persons were false and merely used as drama, yet lots of resources were diverted to investigate all these cases.

She noted that the commission’s entire budget was diverted looking for honestly what was considered as non-existent persons or some who existed but are now actually living in foreign countries.

“Others were out on bail for some serious crimes like terrorism, vandalization of electric wires, so when we reached them, they were so surprised that they appeared on the list of missing people. In my conclusion, none of these people are genuinely missing. From the interactions we have done with these people, none of those people provided for us is missing,” said Wangadya.

It should be recalled that in October last year Wangadya revealed that the Commission had resolved to close 18 files of the allegedly missing National Unity Platform (NUP) party supporters, after failing to trace them for the last 12 months.

Ms Wangadya further noted that whereas the NUP secretariat submitted names of the victims and their next of kin, they failed to provide the key identification details such as their national identification cards, which complicated the investigation process.

Upon this Lewis Rubongoya scoffed at the commission’s report stating that , “It is good that the Commission acknowledged the missing of at least 18 people, but this does not mean that the 12 were not missing, they were missing by the time of our petition because all these people have ever been detained illegally for more than 48 hours,”

Wangadya further asked Parliament to provide an additional Shs3.756Bn to enhance salary of its staff, saying she is only given Shs600,000 for fuel each month, translating to only Shs20,000 daily.

“As chairperson of a constitutional body, my salary is two thirds of that salary of deputy head of that constitutional body (Inspectorate of Government) and people from my home area were like, now you have been promoted, we expect something. I am getting fuel of Shs20,000 per day which is Shs600,000 per month,” said Wangadya.

Uganda Human Rights Commission is also seeking for Shs1Bn to purchase 5 vehicles to support the inspection of detention facilities, investigation of case & more Shs1.5Bn to buy 3 vans to sensitize Ugandans on human rights.