The Anti-Corruption Court has remanded the Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Mary Goretti Kitutu and her brother Michael Naboya Kitutu to Luzira Prison on charges of causing loss of public property, corruption and conspiracy to defraud the government.
The court heard that between June 2022 and January 2023, Kitutu caused the loss of public property in the form of 14,000 pre-painted Iron sheets of gauge 28 by diverting them from the intended purpose of benefiting the Karamoja Community Empowerment Program to her own benefit and to the benefit of other third parties. Naboya, a peasant farmer and resident of Bukawekha sub-county in Namisindwa District, is charged with receiving 100 stolen iron sheets.
The duo was today (Thursday April 6, 2023) arraigned before the Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Joan Achiro who read the charges before the suspects and the Minister Kitutu denied the charges. The defence lawyers led by Jude Byamukama applied for Kitutu’s bail, citing her age, prominence, and medical condition.
They also told court that Kitutu is a much decorated scientist and an academician with a fixed place of abode in Bunga Cell in Makindye Division, married to Michael Kitutu an Accountant with whom they have been married since June 4, 1988. She is a mother of seven children and also a grandmother of seven. She also owns property within the court’s jurisdiction.
The assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Josephine Namatovu, objected to the bail application, citing on-going inquiries and the risk of interfering with prosecution witnesses. Court therefore remanded Kitutu together with her brother to Luzira Prison until April 12, pending verification of the sureties and land titles presented.
The charges against Kitutu carries a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment if found guilty.
The court has issued a criminal summons against Joshua Abaho, the Senior Assistant Secretary at the Ministry of Karamoja Affairs Office, who did not appear in court.