KAMPALA- The people living with albinism in Uganda have rejected the proposal by Government to merge Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) with Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) saying such a move will lead to further trivialization of the marginalization they face in communities.
The proposal was made by Olive Namutebi, Executive Director, Albinism Umbrella, while appearing before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to present group’s views on the Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2024 that is seeking to merge the two Commissions into one body called the Uganda Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, to put into effect Government’s policy on rationalization and merger of agencies.
She defended her argument stating that the Equal Opportunities Commission has demonstrated its commitment to the marginalized communities, and cited a case where a private school out rightly discriminated a learner with albinism and Albinism Umbrella, Civil Society Organisation filed a case with the EOC Tribunal that saw justice served and the teachers in the said school underwent training to know that learners will come different but as long as they are human beings and have paid school fees, treat them equally.
The Albinism Umbrella further submitted that although the need to save costs of administration as fronted by Cabinet is understandable, which is why Government is looking at the economic side of this merger, but Government will in the end require more money than will be saved because the cost of exclusion can’t be monetized in any currency.
Namutebi argued, that the cost of excluding these marginalized people by minimizing or diminishing the mandate of equal opportunities Commission is regressive.
According to Namutebi, Uganda is among other many countries which have the EOC and UHRC separate and operating smoothly and Uganda has been a beacon of success in this area and several countries have bench marked on these structures, and went on to ask why Government would want all these achievements washed down the drain?
The Albinism Umbrella called on Parliament to make wider consultation across the whole country, if Government insists on merging UHRC and EOC and also ensure that in case the new Commission is established, its mandate has to be widened to ensure equal opportunities are also implemented in the private sector.
Cue in………………Namuteebi on UHRC
