Agnes Nandutu Jailed 4 Years Over Karamoja Iron Sheets Scandal

National: The Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court has today April 10, sentenced Bududa District Woman MP Agnes Nandutu to four years in prison for illegally acquiring and possessing government iron sheets meant for vulnerable Karachuna in Karamoja.

Trial judge Jane Okuo ruled that the time Nandutu spent on remand will be deducted from her sentence.

The court also ordered that all recovered iron sheets be returned. In addition, Nandutu was barred from holding public office for ten years due to the seriousness of the offence.

Earlier, Nandutu made an emotional plea for leniency. She asked for forgiveness from the people of Karamoja, the President, and her constituents. She requested a non-custodial sentence, citing poor health, including lumps in her lungs that sometimes cause her to lose consciousness.

She also told court that she is a single mother of seven children and the sole caregiver of her 81-year-old mother.

In her defence, Nandutu said she had returned the iron sheets and paid for the missing ones, asking the court to consider this as a reason for leniency.

However, the prosecution opposed a lighter sentence, asking for at least five years in prison. It argued that Nandutu kept the iron sheets for nine months, showing the offence was planned. It also said the items were only returned after police intervention.

Court heard that between June and July 2022, Nandutu received and kept 2,000 pre-painted iron sheets marked “Office of the Prime Minister,” knowing or suspecting they had been irregularly obtained from a government programme.

The iron sheets were part of a larger consignment under a supplementary budget of about Shs39.94 billion for the 2021/2022 financial year. The programme aimed to support disarmament and community development in Karamoja.

Evidence showed that out of 95,044 iron sheets stored in Namanve, 10,000 were requested for a presidential launch in Moroto District, but only 1,000 were officially issued, leaving a surplus.

According to prosecutors, Nandutu was informed that 2,000 iron sheets had been allocated to her, reportedly for landslide victims. She accepted and arranged for their collection.

On June 23, 2022, she provided transport money and directed her assistant to pick up the iron sheets from the Office of the Prime Minister stores. The sheets were first taken to a private home in Wakiso District, then moved to her residence in Seeta, Mukono District.

Investigations in March 2023 found that Nandutu recorded a statement with police and led officers to her farm, where 1,617 iron sheets were recovered. She could not account for the remaining 383.

The court concluded that Nandutu knowingly received and kept government property that had been unlawfully diverted from a public programme meant to help vulnerable communities.