Ms. Mariam Wangadya, Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), testified in court that three Members of Parliament demanded a 5 percent kickback in exchange for increasing her commission’s budget.
Ms. Wangadya, the first prosecution witness, testified against MPs Paul Akamba (Busiki County), Yusuf Mutembuli (Bunyole East), and Cissy Namujju Dionizza (Lwengo District Woman MP) in the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court, presided over by Justice Lawrence Gidudu.
She identified Mutembuli as the former vice-chairperson of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Akamba as a member of the Budget Committee, and Namujju as a member of the Public Accounts Committee.
Ms. Wangadya recounted that she was introduced to Mutembuli by MP Fox Odoi in May last year while presenting the UHRC’s policy statement. She informed the committee about the financial challenges faced by the commission, which had an estimated budget of Shs58 billion but had received less in previous financial years, resulting in the closure of some up-country offices.
“I felt like I had failed the organization I was leading to the extent of wanting to resign, but Mutembuli told me that he had a solution for the commission’s financial crisis and requested the presence of the UHRC’s accounting officer,” Ms. Wangadya said.
Mutembuli allegedly told her that government bodies would offer 5 percent of their enhanced budgets to MPs before approval and suggested that the UHRC should do the same. Ms. Wangadya did not agree and reported the matter to the president, who advised her to work with the police and not to quit her job.
On May 13, 2024, Ms. Wangadya received a call from Mutembuli asking her to meet him and some colleagues at Hotel Africana in Kampala. She informed Maj. Betty Kagaba, who handed her a voice recorder disguised as a pen. Ms. Wangadya used the device to record her meeting with Mutembuli, Akamba, and Namujju.
The presiding judge adjourned the case to August 5, when the court will decide whether to play the audio recordings of the MPs allegedly seeking a bribe.
The prosecution asserts that on May 13, the trio solicited from Ms. Wangadya an undue advantage of 20 percent of the anticipated enhanced budget for the UHRC for the financial year 2024/25. They claimed they could influence the Budget Committee’s decision to increase the commission’s budget in exchange for the kickback.
All the accused MPs have denied the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail or a fine of Shs4.8 million, or both.
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