Mukono north Member of Parliament (MP) Abdallah Kiwanuka alias Mulimamayuni has revealed that President Museveni held a private meeting with Mariam Wangadya the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) at Entebbe State House where she apologised over her demeaning statements.
“What I can confirm to you is that before appearing before the parliamentary committee on legal, Wandagya first held a meeting with President Museveni and she apologized,” Kiwanuka said.
Highly placed State House sources revealed to Ono Bwino that immediately after receiving Wangadya’s resignation notice, the President made a phone call to her and a meeting was scheduled last week but because his busy schedule, it was postpended to early this week.
He added that before making any comment about the alleged resignation on the floor of parliament, Attorney General Dr Sam Mayanja used his hotline phone number as a government chief legal officer to first consult his boss who guided his response.
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Mayanja told parliament that Wangadya is still the chairperson of the Commission even though she filed a resignation notice to the appointing authority who has the powers to accept her wish or decline.
Sources said that after a lengthy one on one meeting on Wednesday, as a section of Commissioners led by Steven Mwesige Basaliza, Simeo Nsubuga Muwanga and Jacklet Atuhaire Rwabukurukuru were undressing Wangadya, branding her incompetent and not fit to hold the said office before the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authority and State Enterprises (COSASE), she was in State House defending herself before the President.
Sources at the Commission told Ono Bwino that the State House meeting gave Wangadya the confidence together with his blue-eyed boy commissioner Crispin Kaheru to appear before the parliamentary legal committee with all the assurance that she is still in charge of the commission.
Ono Bwino has learnt that before meeting the President, Kaheru prepared his boss on how to handle the President after learning that the big man was furious over her demeaning comments.
It is the reason why before responding to any statement made by the President, Wangadya first apologised to the President the same way she did when she was appearing before the parliamentary legal committee.
She then started explaining to him why she made the said annoying statement which likely annoyed the President and other members of the public saying that they were made out of emotions.
She told the President that since February 2026, she has been subjected to a public humiliation and blackmail accusing legislators led by Lwengo district Woman Member of Parliament Cissy Namujju of facilitating her tomentors who have also hired the media to terrorise her and her entire family.
It should be remembered that in 2024, Wangadya reported to the president that Namujju and other legislators were demanding a bribe from her to facilitate the passing of her Commission budget.
The legislators were arrested by Museveni’s intelligence on sight at Hotel Africana while sealing the bribe deal with Wangadya. They were later charged before the Anti-Corruption Court but the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) withdrew the charges against the accused during the 2026 general elections.
In the meeting, sources claim that Wangadya told the President that Simeo and Namujju used their connections at Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi’s CBS radio to declare a media malice campaign against her.
“She reported to the President that whenever she reached office, the first phone call she received was from CBS radio journalists asking her why she was always absent from work. Commissioners even took her photos while she was entering her office and shared them with CBS radio who published them on their online platforms and declared that after a long time, she had resurrected,” a source said.
Sources said that the president admitted to receiving her confidential letter which she sent to him detailing the chaos at the commission and told her that he didn’t respond to it immediately because he was also studying another petition which other Commissioners led by Simeo Nsubuga authored accuses her of abuse of office and participating in corruption activities.
State House sources said that Museveni is going to let Wangadya finish their term which is ending in 2027 but he will not renew it. The search for her replacements is currently ongoing.
Simeo confirmed that he petitioned the President detailing how Wangadya participated in corruption activities but denied allegations that Namujju and other legislators arrested after Wangadya’s report to the president are bankrolling him.
State House sources said that Museveni is also planning to hold another meeting with the Commissioners fighting Wangadya and after, he will hold a joint reconciliation meeting with all of them in attendance which will be attended by other stakeholders including the Attorney General, Constitutional Affairs ministers and others to resolve their misunderstanding.
