Karamoja iron sheets: Minister Kitutu to appear in court on corruption charges

UPDATE

WEDNESDAY, 10PM — The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on Wednesday sanctioned charges of corruption and conspiracy to commit a felony against the embattled Karamoja affairs minister, Mary Gorretti Kitutu, for allegedly diverting iron sheets meant for Karamoja community.

The Police slapped the charges against the minister, which DPP Jane Frances Abodo consented to.

The minister is expected to appear before the Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo, Kampala on Thursday to answer the charges.

The iron sheets were majorly meant for rehabilitation and resettlement of former cattle raiders in Karamoja sub-region.

Recently, it emerged that the items did not reach Karamoja, with some instead being given to over 15 ministers and top government officials.

Appearing before Parliament's presidential affairs committee in March, Geoffrey Sseremba, the undersecretary for finance and administration in the Office of the Prime Minister, said the companies delivered 95,044 iron sheets to the OPM stores in Namanve Industrial Park and that so far 20,500 sheets have been released.

Sseremba said out of these, 6,000 were delivered to Moroto and Nakapiripirit, both districts located in Karamoja sub-region in Uganda's northeast.

He said the OPM was in the process of delivering the remaining 74,544 iron sheets to 3,339 beneficiaries that were submitted by the districts.

On February 13, 2023, New Vision broke the story of the arrest of Kitutu's relatives in Namisindwa district after they reportedly sold iron sheets to detectives from the State House Anti Corruption Unit, who had posed as clients.

The suspects included the minister's mother Cotilda Kitutu, her brother Micheal Nabwoya and nephew Julius Wabule.
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TUESDAY

Karamoja affairs minister, Mary Goretti Kitutu has been handed over to the joint team of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) and State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) who are probing the mismanagement of relief items meant for the vulnerable in Karamoja region.

Sources privy to the investigations noted that Kitutu was on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, handed over after she reportedly snubbed summons that had been served to her.  

This was after Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee probing the mismanagement of the relief items on Monday gave Kitutu until today to appear before the legislators or risk arrest.

On Tuesday when she appeared, she was immediately handed over to Parliament CID teams after she declined to take an oath.  

Shortly after she had recorded her statement at Parliament, Kitutu was whisked away to CID headquarters.

“She was supposed to have appeared and recorded a statement with us last week, but she kept dodging us. We have since been recording statements from others on charges of abuse of office, theft and diversion among other charges,” the source revealed.

By 7:00 pm, the minister had not yet been released from CID where she was still recording her statement. It was not yet clear whether she would be released on bond or would be detained.

Background 

On Monday, February 13, 2023, New Vision broke the story of the arrest Kitutu’s relatives in Namisindwa district and the recovery of the iron sheets by SHACU. On February 12, 2023, detectives from SHACU arrested Kitutu’s relatives in Namisindwa district including her mother, Cotilda Kitutu, a resident of Situumi in Bukhaweka sub-county, her brother Micheal Nabwoya and nephew,Julius Wabule. The trio was arrested after they reportedly sold iron sheets to detectives from SHACU who posed as clients.

Following the expose’ Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) permanent secretary Keith Muhakanizi convened a meeting to try to get to the bottom of the matter.  

A subsequent report from the inventory section at the OPM detailed how the iron sheets that were meant for Karamoja were released and shared with the ministers.  

The report states that on January 25, 2023, the stores unit at the OPM received authorisation from the undersecretary to release 12,200 G28 corrugated pre-painted iron sheets to OPM.  

“The stores unit, thereafter, received phone calls from the office of the Minister for Karamoja Affairs through her personal assistant and senior assistant secretary Karamoja Affairs informing us that he will be sending beneficiaries of the 12,200 iron sheets to pick their consignment and that he will be guiding on the distribution from time to time,” the reports states.  

In the report, the senior inventory management officer said: “It is true we based on verbal and WhatsApp communication of the Personal Assistant (PA) to Kitutu to inform our decision to issue to the ministers because we had no reason to doubt the communication from a fellow officer who works directly with the Minister for Karamoja Affairs,” the report indicated.

Over 15 ministers, together with Vice-President Jessica Alupo, Parliament Speaker Anita Among and Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja have already recorded statements over the iron sheet saga.  

On Monday, Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga said they had completed their investigations and were now writing a report that would be submitted to the Directorate of Public Prosecution for advice on what charges to prefer.