Minister Kitutu’s brother re-arrested as Karamoja Iron Sheets scandal takes shape

Detectives investigating the Iron Sheets saga have re-arrested the brother of Karamoja Affairs Minister Mary Goretti Kitutu who had earlier been released on Police bond to aid in further investigations.

Micheal Wabwoya was among the three relatives of the Minister including her mother Cotilda Kitutu, 86, and nephew Julius Wabule who were arrested on February 12, 2023, after they were found selling Iron sheets meant for the vulnerable in Karamoja.

According to the latest reports, Wabwoya is expected to be charged along with her sister Kitutu on two counts of corruption before the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala today (Thursday).

This publication has further learnt that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions exonerated Kitutu’s mother because of her advanced age.

Minister Kitutu was arrested on Tuesday at Parliament after she declined to take an oath and handed over to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit and the Police Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID).

She was then taken to CID headquarters in Kibuli, Kampala, where she declined to record a statement and was detained at Kira Division Police Station where she spent two days.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) yesterday sanctioned charges of corruption and conspiracy to commit a felony against the minister and is expected to appear in court this afternoon alongside her brother.

In a related development, the DPP has this morning revealed that files of each of the named government officials in the Iron Sheets saga will be handled separately and that the team has only started with the principal suspect, the Minister in charge of the Karamoja Affairs.

Fifteen ministers who reportedly received iron sheets from the OPM and the Karamoja affairs ministry have since recorded their statements after the DPP directed the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to probe the matter.

One of such big names in this scandal is finance minister Matia Kasaija who when facing the Presidential Affairs Committee in early March, told the committee members that the Office of the Prime Minister should be tasked with explaining to them why his constituency was given iron sheets that were instead meant for the people of Karamoja.

Kasaija said he did not put in a request for the items and therefore considers himself innocent and said the remainder of his constituency’s share of iron sheets was available for return to OPM.

The iron sheets scandal also saw Vice-President Jessica Alupo sucked in the mess.

Ms Alupo who on Wednesday interfaced with Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee at her office at the Office of the Prime Minister over the saga said she was surprised to see her name on the list of the officials implicated in the scandal.

“I was also one of the people who were shocked to hear that iron sheets have been stolen. ‘Iron sheets have been stolen, and your name is one of the names which is on the list for having stolen iron sheets of Karamoja’, Alupo remarked.

She said that while she never solicited for the items, her personal assistant received a call from the Office of the Prime Minister requesting him to make a requisition for 500 iron sheets for the vulnerable people in Katakwi district, for which Alupo is the Woman MP.

“Did I get the iron sheets physically? No. I did not even see them but I have seen pictures of those roofed areas, which I have not even visited.”

Alupo urged government anti-corruption agencies to work “very closely” to detect the actual number of the remaining iron sheets.

“But as we talk now, I am reliably informed that all those iron sheets are not there. On the contrary, the iron sheets which are in the store, according to the Prime Minister, are 14,000 and are for disaster [the ministry].