Ugandan MPs have criticized the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) for awarding inadequate compensation to victims of human rights violations, calling for payouts of up to Shs 200 million.
They argued that the amounts awarded sometimes as low as Shs 5 million are not commensurate with the severity of the violations suffered by the victims.
Leading the protest was Asuman Basalirwa the Bugiri Municipality MP during a meeting between the Committee and UHRC officials, who had appeared to defend the agency’s 2025/26 Ministerial Policy Statement.
He urged the Commission to increase compensation amounts to between Shs100-200 million.
“I want to understand why these days your Commission is not making bigger awards to victims of human rights violations because by this simple calculation means these 16, on average, each received Shs30 million. But you are talking about Shs30 million and what are the human rights violations? In your own document, you are talking about torture. So, somebody is tortured, comes before the tribunal and is awarded Shs30 million on torture,” said Basalirwa.
He emphasized the need for fair and adequate compensation stating that the award should be increased.
“You even talk about denial of right to life in your own document and you’re awarding Shs30 million. Right to security and you’re awarding Shs30 million. Aren’t you condoning human rights violations by these meagre awards? Somebody has been tortured and you are giving them, and I’m just making an average, but I know for sure that these days you are awarding Shs5 million, Shs7 million over human rights violations. This is really ridiculous. What stops you from making an award of Shs100 million, of Shs200 million?”
In response, UHRC Chairperson Mariam Wangadya highlighted some of the Commission’s achievements in 2024-2025, including handling 1,606 cases 992 from men and 614 from women out of which 95 cases met admissibility criteria.
She noted that 16 cases had been resolved, but the Commission continues to struggle with delayed compensation payments from the agencies responsible for making them.
“Our decisions face challenges due to delayed compensations. We intend to engage the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to address the challenges and agree on the way forward. Complainants also face challenges in accessing incidental services in relation to their complaints such as getting a death certificate to prove death in matters of life,” explained Wangadya.
Wangadya emphasized the importance of having a budget that aligns with their mandate to enable them provide justice.
“I think we should concede that our mandate must relate with the budget fairly. Human rights issues should attract a big budget. We have now learnt but the director of research can answer why the directorate takes the lions share. We undertake to increase allocations in investigations and complaints registrations. Concede that the development budget has become more important than core mandate. We have no capacity to tell who are political prisoners. Maybe the public may judge. We were perturbed by the bail terms by court on Eron kiiza,” she said.
Wangadaya informed the media that the public appreciates the commission’s work, as it has established human rights courts across the country to ensure access to justice.
“Most Ugandans appreciate our work. We have taken human rights courts across the country to deliver justice,”
