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How being loud-mouthed saved Otafiire from iron sheet scandal
Internal Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire. Photo/ File
What you need to know:
- The government procured the iron sheets through a supplementary vote for distribution to vulnerable Karimojong and youthful warriors, locally called Karachunas, as a sweetener to them for abdicating armed violence.
Internal Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire, a retired two-star general of the liberation war that brought President Museveni to power, has said individuals who doled out iron sheets meant for Karamoja sub-region drafted him as a beneficiary but stalled giving the items to him because they feared he would speak out.
“I was allocated 200 to 400 iron sheets [and] … my name was on the list of the people who were supposed to receive the Iron sheets, but I didn’t receive them or pick them,” he said.
He added: “If you give Otafiire iron sheets, he will take it and tell the whole village and the world how he received mabaati (iron sheets). That is how I survived to get the iron sheets. I didn’t get the iron sheets because they thought I would tell the whole world,” he added.
Ministers disown Kitutu over iron sheets scandal
The minister, however, explained that they knew he would tell the whole village and world of how he got the roofing materials selectively doled out to notables by ministers for Karamoja Affairs.
He made the comments yesterday while interfacing with members of the Equal Opportunities Commission at his office in Kampala.
The minister’s name features alongside that of a dozen Cabinet colleagues and 16 lawmakers on a list signed by indicted Karamoja Affairs minister Goretti Kitutu and titled ‘donation of iron sheets under Ministry of Karamoja Affairs’.
In the October 13, 2022 internal memo to the under-secretary, Ms Kitutu, who is out on bail after being charged in court over the saga, named senior and junior ministers and lawmakers from Karamoja and Bugisu sub-regions as recipients of the iron sheets.
“This is to forward the lists [of] beneficiaries of donations under the Office of MKA (Minister of Karamoja Affairs) and also to request you to authorise the release of iron sheets - as per the attached list,” wrote minister Kitutu, who signed on every page of the memo on October 15, 2022.
Our investigations revealed that none of the listed beneficiaries was aware that they were to get the roofing materials diverted from legitimate beneficiaries in Karamoja sub-region, and they never got any anyways.
In his first reaction to the matter, Maj Gen Otafiire told this publication on March 30 that the person who named him among beneficiaries must “be sick in the head”.
“I have never seen the iron sheets, may be someone wanted me to be a comrade-in-crime, but he or she never told me because I have never heard about it [before],” he said by then.
In yesterday’s rejoinder, the Internal Affairs minister said he suspects he was not handed the iron sheets because the masterminds of the scheme feared he would expose them.
Three ministers – Ms Kitutu, her junior Agness Nandutu and her Planning counterpart Amos Lugoloobi – have since been charged with various counts and are awaiting trial.
President Museveni, the appointing authority, called the diversion of the iron sheets political corruption and said individuals who applied them to personal use were thieves who should be prosecuted, while those who donated them should return or pay equivalent value in cash.
Minister Otafiire yesterday said whereas he survived, he believes colleagues like Finance Minister Matia Kasaija “got the iron sheets without knowing … [that] they were meant for Karamoja.”
The latter on Tuesday, took back 298 iron sheets to the Office of the Prime Minister stores in Namanve, Mukono, where detectives receive and record the returns in a manner of documenting exhibits.
About the iron sheets scandal
The government procured the iron sheets through a supplementary vote for distribution to vulnerable Karimojong and youthful warriors, locally called Karachunas, as a sweetener to them for abdicating armed violence.
The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) received 105,658 pieces between February 1 and August 8, 2022 for Karamoja ministry in three batches; 10,614 from MM Integrated Steel Mills (U) Ltd on day one, a batch of 10,000 G28 pre-painted sand beige Kiboko brand sheets from the same company on April 22, 2022 and a consignment of similar make of 85,044 pieces of iron sheets that M/S Roofing Rolling Mill Ltd delivered on August 8, 2022.
In two separate memos, one by herself dated January 12, 2023 and another by aide Joshua Abaho, Karamoja Affairs minister Kitutu asked for a total 22,200 pieces of iron sheets for recipients in Karamoja but, as government investigations have revealed, the goods ended in her home and possession of senior government leaders.
