The Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Mary Goretti Kitutu, has been denied bail by the Anti-Corruption Court.
After spending the Easter weekend in Luzira Prison, Kitutu returned to court this evening for the ruling on her bail application that was submitted last week.
However, the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala has declined to grant her bail on grounds that her sureties are not substantial.
Only one of the minister’s four sureties is considered substantial enough to enable her to get released on bail, according to the court’s chief magistrate Joan Aciro.
The minister and her brother, Michael Naboya Kitutu are charged alongside Joshua Abaho, the Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Karamoja Affairs Office of the Prime Minister.
According to the charge sheet, Kitutu allegedly caused a loss of public property between June 2022 and January 2023 by diverting 9,000 pre-painted iron sheets intended for the Karamoja Community Empowerment Program to her own benefit and that of third parties.
It is also alleged that in January 2023, Kitutu diverted 5,500 iron sheets, and her brother received 100 of them in Namisindwa district.