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The Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala has scheduled November 4, 2026, for a pre-trial hearing in the case against former Karamoja Affairs Minister Mary Goretti Kitutu and two co-accused over the alleged diversion of 14,500 iron sheets meant for vulnerable communities in the Karamoja sub-region.
Justice David Makumbi set the date on Monday after Chief State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya informed the court that the prosecution was ready to proceed, following the dismissal of an appeal that had stalled the case for nearly two years. The court also advised the accused persons to consider a plea bargain if they believed they were liable for the offences.
Kitutu faces two counts of causing loss of public property involving 9,000 and 5,500 pre-painted iron sheets, respectively, as well as a count of conspiracy to defraud. She is jointly charged with Joshua Abaho, a Senior Assistant Secretary accused of conspiring with her to divert the 14,500 iron sheets. Kitutu’s brother, Michael Naboya, is separately accused of receiving 100 iron sheets at Situmi Village in Namisindwa District, allegedly knowing that they had been obtained unlawfully.
The alleged offences occurred between June 2022 and January 2023 and relate to iron sheets procured under the Karamoja Community Empowerment Programme to support vulnerable communities in the sub-region. The prosecution alleges that the iron sheets were diverted from their intended beneficiaries. The accused persons denied the charges and were released on bail.
The case had stalled after Kitutu challenged the decision to prosecute her in two separate criminal proceedings arising from investigations into the management of funds and supplies under the Karamoja supplementary programme. On September 18, 2026, the Court of Appeal in Kampala dismissed her appeal, clearing the way for the Anti-Corruption Court to resume proceedings.
A three-member panel comprising Deputy Chief Justice Moses Kazibwe Kawumi, Justice Christopher Gashirabake and Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire upheld an earlier decision of the High Court’s Anti-Corruption Division rejecting Kitutu’s application to consolidate the two criminal cases or have one of them declared invalid. Kitutu had argued that the prosecutions arose from substantially the same facts relating to the Karamoja supplementary budget for the 2021/2022 financial year.
She contended that trying her in separate proceedings amounted to splitting a single criminal transaction and violated her constitutional right to a fair hearing. The Court of Appeal, however, found that the cases involved different allegations, expenditure items, periods of alleged offending, co-accused persons and evidential requirements. The first case, which returned to the Anti-Corruption Court on Monday, was instituted by the Director of Public Prosecutions and centres on allegations surrounding the diversion of iron sheets procured under the Karamoja Community Empowerment Programme.
The second case was instituted by the Inspectorate of Government, and concerns alleged irregularities in the management of supplementary funds intended for peacebuilding, disarmament, monitoring and other administrative activities in Karamoja. In its ruling, the Court of Appeal held that separate prosecutions could proceed where the alleged offences were distinct, even if they arose from the same government programme or broader public inquiry.
The judges also rejected Kitutu’s argument that the involvement of different investigative agencies amounted to an abuse of the prosecutorial process. They observed that complex allegations involving public expenditure could require investigations by different constitutional and statutory bodies acting within their respective mandates. The court further found that Kitutu had not demonstrated actual prejudice or shown that the separate proceedings had substantially undermined the fairness of the criminal process.
The appeal was dismissed in its entirety, with each party ordered to bear its own costs. Kitutu last appeared before the Anti-Corruption Court on August 31, 2026, when Justice Makumbi adjourned the case to October 12 to allow the parties to await the Court of Appeal’s decision. With the appeal now dismissed and the prosecution indicating readiness to proceed, the court fixed November 4 for the pre-trial hearing. It also scheduled December 2, 2026, for a further hearing in the matter.
The case is part of the wider Karamoja iron sheets scandal, which implicated several politicians and public officials over the distribution of government supplies intended for vulnerable communities. Former State Minister for Karamoja Affairs Agnes Nandutu was convicted in the case and sentenced to four years in prison earlier this year. Nandutu blamed her conviction and imprisonment on Kitutu, saying her senior colleague had failed to guide her on how to handle the iron sheets, despite knowing that she was relatively new to Parliament and Cabinet.
The Director of Public Prosecutions also withdrew similar charges against State Minister for Economic Planning Amos Lugoloobi, leaving Kitutu as the remaining accused person still facing trial in the iron sheets case, following Nandutu’s conviction and imprisonment.
If you have a story in your community or an opinion article, let’s publish it. Send us an email via editor@peaknews.co.ug . By URN
