By Julius Mugaga Tukacungurwa, Umoja Standard.
KAMPALA: Since her swearing-in on 29th September 2021 by Chief Justice Alfonso Owiny-Dollo as Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Honorable Mariam Fauzat Wangadya has anchored the Commission’s work on legal adjudication, institutional monitoring and policy coordination.
Wangadya, an Advocate of the Supreme Court and a pioneer UHRC Commissioner from 1996, returned to the Commission after serving 8 years as Deputy Inspector General of Government. Her leadership has focused on expediting access to redress through the UHRC Tribunal. In November 2025, a Tribunal panel chaired by her in Jinja awarded Shs18.1 million in compensation to victims of unlawful detention and torture, including Shs10 million to a Mayuge peasant whose 15-day detention was found to be “malicious, vindictive and punitive”.
On policy and reporting, Wangadya presented the UHRC 26th Annual Report to Parliament in 2024, which documented concerns on welfare and operations within the Uganda Police Force, including officer living conditions, use of ropes as handcuffs, and deployment practices. She has also emphasized Uganda’s engagement with international mechanisms, noting in 2022 that Uganda accepted 139 of 273 Universal Periodic Review recommendations, stating that “behind every accepted recommendation lies a commitment, behind each commitment lies a policy, and behind every policy, a life can potentially be transformed”.
In 2023, Wangadya signed a Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of UHRC with the National Fellowship of Born-Again Pentecostal Churches of Uganda to curb violations and promote regulation, valid through 2028.
Under her stewardship, UHRC continues to position itself as a constitutional body for complaint investigation, monitoring of places of detention, and human rights education aimed at prevention of violations.
