Africa-Press – Uganda. For close to two years, the position of the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission remained vacant following the death of the then chairperson, Med Ssozi Kaggwa, on November 20, 2019.
Likewise, the position of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) remained vacant for more than a year following the expiry of the two-term contract of Justice Irene Mulyagonja without replacement.
The work at the two government institutions that are mandated to fight corruption and ensure human rights are respected, stalled for the respective periods.
For instance, during the one year period that the country went without a substantive ombudsman, the office of the IGG had to resort to using the services of the office of the DPP to sanction corruption charges for prosecution at the Anti-Corruption Court.
This was intended to skip the legal contestations that could arise for sanctioning corruption charges without a substantive IGG.
The narrative at the office of the Human Rights Commission was not any different.
According to the commission’s annual report of 2018, a year before Mr Kaggwa died, there were 1,039 registered cases that were pending hearing.
The practice has been that more human rights abuse cases are reported in the aftermath of general elections, which polls we held earlier this year, meaning the number of human rights cases could have doubled or tripled during the period with no substantive chairperson.
But now that the appointing authority, President Museveni, recently appointed Ms Mariam Wangadya as the new chairperson of the UHRC, and Ms Olive Beti Namisango Kamya as the new IGG, we expect that they immediately start their constitutional work and serve the population that has been yearning for justice.
Given that we have come out of a hotly contested General Election, we expect that the citizens who were beaten innocently or because of exercising their constitutional rights, have their complaints swiftly heard and settled. Those who deserve to be compensated should be compensated.
Ms Kamya should also walk the talk and start prosecuting big shots in government who siphon tax payers’ money commonly known as not just the small ones as she takes her first step to fight the cancer of corruption that has eaten the country to the core.
