Amos Lugoloobi, the State Minister for Planning under the Finance Ministry, was detained in connection with the diversion of iron sheets for the weak, impoverished inhabitants of Karamoja.
Sources claim that Lugoloobi was apprehended on Thursday night after showing up at the Kibuli office of the Criminal Investigations Department to provide a statement.
According to sources, Lugoloobi has been avoiding CID summonses while pretending to be abroad on business when he is actually not. However, according to sources, he was instructed to appear and have his fate decided as quickly as possible.
He’s being detained at Kira Division Police Station right now. When Lugoloobi will be charged and brought before the court is currently unknown.
In connection with this scam, where more than 14,500 iron sheets intended for the Karamoja people through the Karamoja Community Empowerment Program were diverted to the advantage of outside parties, Lugoloobi is now the second Minister to be detained.
First to be detained, Minister of Karamoja Affairs Mary Gorreti Kitutu spent two days in police custody before being brought before the Anti-Corruption Court on April 6, 2023, along with her brother Michael Naboya Kitutu, on six counts of causing loss of property and conspiracy to defraud the Ugandan government.
The Anti-Corruption Court had earlier in the day given Kitutu and her brother Naboya bail; they will return on April 27, 2023, for the Prosecution to update the court on the progress of the investigations.
Each of them had been held in custody for eight days in Luzira Prison.
Joshua Abaho, the senior assistant secretary for the ministry of Karamoja affairs in the office of the prime minister, was also the subject of further fresh criminal summons from the court.
A supplemental budget for 39 billion shillings was approved by the Parliament in December 2021 to assist various activities in Karamoja.
These included 5 billion shillings for the purchase of 100,000 iron sheets, which is said to have been diverted, and 22 billion shillings for the purchase of goats.
The CID reported last month that they were looking into 22 Ministers, 31 Members of Parliament, and 13 Chief Administrative Officers.
Since then, Jacquelyn Okui, the spokeswoman for the office of the director of public prosecutions, has said that the files of individuals accused will be submitted in peacemeals as and when the Police, who is conducting the investigation, forwards them.
On April 3, 2023, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni sent a letter to Prime Minister Robinah Nabanja in which he stated that individuals engaged in the iron sheets affair had made a political error and pledged to take appropriate political action.
Additionally, the President urged anyone who got the iron sheets to send them back. Others have since taken the President’s counsel, including Speaker Anita Among.