Prime
Noose tightens for more ministers in iron sheet saga
State minister for Karamoja Affairs Agness Nandutu (centre) arrives at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo, Kampala, where she was charged with dealing in suspect property before she was remanded to Luzira prison on May 3. PHOTO/FILE.
What you need to know:
- The Director of Public Prosecutions is taking a final look to satisfy herself that identified gaps that police closed in additional investigations on eight case files contain incriminating evidence to warrant arrests of the government notables and their arraignment in court.
- The sudden official silence about the iron sheet scandal following back-to-back arrests of three ministers triggered concerns about what was holding back progress
Police have completed additional inquiries and closed gaps raised by the public prosecutor regarding investigations into the iron sheet scandal, potentially placing more top officials closer as candidates for arrest and prosecution.
Sources knowledgeable among the criminal investigations that President Museveni ordered, said police have returned all except one or two of the eight files on which the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) asked for additional information and evidence.
Iron sheets: Police hand DPP 8 more files
Detectives were tasked to record additional statements from potential witnesses, secure more documentary proof and establish owners of beneficiary health and educational institutions, according to multiple officials who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Officials being investigated have reportedly fully cooperated with the police, except one senior female bureaucrat who, after publicly acknowledging receipt of the iron sheets, has made a U-turn to fault her political aide.
Next step
The return of the case files by police means if DPP Jane Frances Abodo is satisfied with the evidence gathered and sanctions preferred charges, a set of ministers and parliamentarians could be arraigned in court soon, ending weeks of silence regarding accountability by officials implicated in the iron sheets scandal.
Ms Irene Nakibungwe, the deputy spokesperson of the office of the DPP, told this newspaper on Tuesday that a decision on the returned iron sheet case files has delayed because DPP Abodo, whose personal consent is required due to the nature of the matter, has been out of the country.
“Corruption cases such as these ones require the personal consent of the DPP before the suspects can be taken to court,” Ms Nakibungwe said. “Some of those police files were returned to our office and our officers are perusing through afresh. These are some of the files that are pending the decision of the DPP when she returns.”
The DPP was expected back from Nairobi, Kenya, late Tuesday, a source said, but we were unable by press time last evening to ascertain if she returned.
Among those accused of taking 14,500 pieces of the roofing materials procured for Karamoja’s poor and reformed youthful warriors, better known as Karachunas, are 22 ministers and dozens of lawmakers, as well as district-level top technocrats.
The government in December 2021 passed Shs39 billion supplementary budget out of which Shs5b was for buying the metal sheets, Shs22b for stocking relief food and Shs12b for purchasing goats.
Following a tip-off about alleged mismanagement of and dodgy accountability for the relief items, State House detectives arrested members of minister Goretti Kitutu’s family accused of selling the G28 corrugated iron sheets meant for beneficiaries in her docket of Karamoja, Uganda’s weather and conflict-stricken border enclave.
Experts poke holes in Nabbanja’s defence
President Museveni ordered police and investigators from the DPP to conduct a criminal inquiry into the allegations that 14,500 out of 100,000 iron sheets bought for the Karimojong had irregularly been signed out and shared among notables in government.
The allocations were done on WhatsApp messaging platform, contrary to prescribed procedures under the Public Service Standing Orders.
In an April 3 letter to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Mr Museveni christened recipients of the roofing materials thieves, if they applied the iron sheets for personal use, and subversive and populists in the event they donated them for political expediency.
“If somebody took mabaati (iron sheets) meant for the Karachuna (Karimojong warriors) and gave them to people or institutions in his or her constituency, this is political corruption,” he wrote, “It is like bribing voters so as to get political favours. In the case of the mabaati, it is at the expense of the Karachuna, but also at the expense of security of the country”.
Noting that the senior government officials “engaged in theft and they should be handled by the police”, the President added that “those involved must both bring back the mabaati or equivalent value in money, but also be handled by the police under the criminal laws of the country”.
Among those who have returned iron sheets to the Office of the Prime Minister’s stores in Namanve on the eastern outskirts of Kampala are Parliament Speaker Anita Among, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija and junior Karamoja Affairs minister Agness Nandutu.
Dozens more of the recipients are still clinging onto the metal sheets, and it remained unclear what police or government generally will do to recover them.
As the appointing authority for ministers, President Museveni promised an unspecified “political action”, pending conclusion of police investigations.
Names of the recipients sketches a portrait of Uganda’s political A-listers, among them Vice President Jessica Alupo, Speaker Among, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja and her deputies Rebecca Kadaga and Rukia Nakadama, as well as Finance minister Kasaija.
Three members of Cabinet – Ms Kitutu, her junior Nandutu and Amos Lugoloobi, who superintends the Planning docket – each saw the inside of Luzira Prisons walls after separately being arraigned in court over the past month.
They were variously indicted at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala for causing loss of public property, conspiracy to defraud and dealing in suspect property in relation to the diversion of the 14,500 pieces of iron sheets.
Also charged were Mr Michael Naboya Kitutu, a minister Kitutu sibling and Mr Joshua Abaho, a senior assistant secretary in the OPM where the Karamoja Affairs ministry is domiciled. The latter worked as an aide to minister Kitutu.
All the accused are out on bail pending completion of inquiries, but prosecution already declared investigations against Ms Nandutu complete and her trial at the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court is set for next Thursday.
Public concern
The sudden official silence about the iron sheet scandal following back-to-back arrests of three ministers triggered concerns about what was holding back progress.
A return of eight case files on ministers and leaders in Parliament by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to police for further inquiries fueled public questions and speculations on whether law enforcement were backpedaling on prosecutions of more bigwigs.
Mr Caleb Alaka, a top lawyer who has handled some of the biggest criminal cases in the country, said investigations into the iron sheets scandal might seem straight since recipients acknowledged taking the pieces, but the matter is both criminal and political.
“… politically, whom do you charge and whom do you leave out? So, I think there are many reasons why some of the ministers haven’t been charged yet,” he opined.
Mr Alaka suggested that it was likely some of the iron sheets shared were from other relief allocations other than Karamoja docket, meaning inquiries to verify these are likely to take longer.
Law Development Centre (LDC) lecturer Henry Kunya, in comments for this article, downplayed the lapse of time in getting more iron sheet suspects to court, and said there should no cause for alarm.
“For professional prosecutors, they need to have water-tight evidence before taking a matter to court. Also, [the investigators] have just taken a few months, and not years, to investigate the iron sheets saga; so, let’s give them a benefit of doubt to do a thorough job,” Mr Kunya said.
In an earlier interview last month, DPP Abodo denied allegations of selective prosecution of the ministers, explaining that some of the suspects could have given the iron sheets to many beneficiaries.
This, she said, prolongs investigations by creating multiple layers and geographical areas of verification.
“I don’t think you can have one file,” she said in response to inquiries on why the officials could not be jointly charged since the allegations against them are similar in nature.
“These are different regions we are investigating, and different beneficiaries. Some people gave all the 300 iron sheets to one school or one hospital; that is easy to investigate, but others could have given 10 recipients - to this one, another 10 to the other one … so, you have to get to the bottom of each of the [individual cases],” she said.
She added: “Some places [for making inquiries] are far away. If there is evidence, we take a particular file to court, but if not ready, we ask police to carry out further inquiries.”
