Karamoja affairs minister
Mary Goretti Kitutu has been charged afresh but this time in connection with
the alleged causing of financial loss of over
1.5 billion shillings loss to government.
The minister
is jointly charged with Geoffrey Sseremba-the accounting officer, Deogratius
Masagazi-the head of department, pacification and development program and Tracy
Atuhirwe-the acting head of accounts, all from the office of the prime
minister.
Kitutu has
been added onto an already existing charge sheet, which was amended by the
inspectorate of government against seven OPM officials.
The amended
charge sheet has now introduced minister Kitutu and the head of accounts at OPM,
Atuhirwe.
The
anti-corruption court in Kampala has since issued a criminal summon to the
minister and Atuhirwe to appear on February 29th and take a plea.
Relatedly,
Sseremba and Masagazi who were present in court, pleaded not guilty to the
charges of corruption that they were facing.
Under the
charge of causing financial loss, the ombudsman contends that minister Kitutu
between February and June 2022 while performing her duties as minister for
Karamoja affairs, failed to conduct various peace-building activities in
Karamoja sub-region or having reason to believe that her omission would cause
financial loss and indeed caused loss of over 1.5 billion shillings to
government.