Ugandan authorities minister jailed for corruption

A Ugandan court docket on Thursday charged a authorities minister and her brother with fraud and detained them in a uncommon corruption case towards the nation’s prime official.

The minister, Mary Goretti Kitutu, and her brother appeared earlier than an anti-corruption court docket on prices of stealing roofing sheets for housing within the nation’s poorest area.

They have been each charged with “two counts” of inflicting “loss to the federal government” and “conspiracy to defraud”, the nation’s director of public prosecutions Jane Frances Abodo instructed AFP.

They’ve been detained and can seem in court docket once more on 12 April, she stated.

The roofing sheets have been destined for low-cost housing in Karamoja, an underdeveloped space of northwestern Uganda bordering Kenya and South Sudan.

Mary Goretti Kitutu is the minister chargeable for Karamoja and its growth and the case has precipitated an uproar in Uganda.

Ugandan opposition chief Bobi Wine, nevertheless, known as the accusations towards the minister “a smokescreen”. He accused President Yoweri Museveni’s authorities of far worse. “Museveni’s complete cupboard, together with himself, must be in jail for corruption,” he stated. “We can’t be proud of a cost associated to iron sheets when billions of {dollars} are being embezzled by authorities officers,” he insisted.

In 2007, two authorities ministers, Jim Muhwezi and Mike Mukula, have been accused of embezzling thousands and thousands of {dollars} in support.