Iron sheets scandal: Nandutu continues her defence on Monday

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The defence hearing of a case in which former Karamoja affairs state minister Agnes Nandutu is accused of diverting iron sheets meant for Karamoja sub-region resumes on Monday, August 11, 2025, at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala.

In the last court session, Nandutu told the court presided over by Justice Jane Okuo Kajuga that she was a recipient of the iron sheets and was never part of the team that orchestrated its distribution.

According to Nandutu, the senior minister told her that she had requested the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to provide 2,000 iron sheets to each district in the Bugisu sub-region, including Bududa, her [Nandutu’s] constituency.

The senior minister Nandutu was referring to is the former Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Goretti Kitutu. 

“The senior minister allocated 2000 iron sheets for Bududa district landslide victims,” Nandutu said. She said the iron sheets were signed at the OPM stores in Namanve by her political assistant, Evelyn Hilda Bazibu.

Testifying under the guidance of defence lawyer Evans Ochieng, Nandutu said she, along with Karamoja region ministers, Members of Parliament, and local leaders, were not involved in the planning of the Karachuna project, which aimed to exchange iron sheets and goats for guns with reformed Karimojong warriors.

She revealed that each Karachuna who surrendered their gun would be rewarded with 26 iron sheets, a billy and five nannies. 

Nandutu stated that she was unaware of the project, including the source of the iron sheets and goats, and only knew of its existence through hearsay. 

According to the legislator, Peter Amodoi, a programme officer at the Karamoja ministry, revealed that the region’s ministers, MPs, and local leaders boycotted the project’s launch by President Yoweri Museveni in 2022 because they were excluded from the planning process. 

“I was told that the leaders did not know about the Karachuna project because they were not consulted on what their people wanted, so they did not see the point in attending an event they knew nothing about,” Nandutu said. 

The case 

Nandutu is battling charges of dealing with suspect property, contrary to section 21A (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act. If found guilty, Nandutu will be sentenced to seven years in prison. 

Prosecution alleges that Nandutu between the month of June and July 2022, at the OPM stores in Namanve, and in Kkola Cell, Bulwanyi Parish, Mukono district, dealt with government property, namely, 2000 pre-painted iron sheets of gauge 28 marked “Office of the Prime Minister”, by receiving and holding the items, which she had reason to believe were acquired as a result of loss of public property, an offence under Section 10 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act 2009. 

On the other hand, Kitutu, who is the Manafwa district Woman Member of Parliament, faces two counts of loss of public property and conspiracy to defraud at the Anti-Corruption Court together with her brother Michael Kitutu Naboya and personal assistant Joshua Abaho.