Uganda. Minister imprisoned for corruption

Latin America Digest, 7 April 2023.

A Ugandan court indicted a government minister and her brother on Thursday for fraud and arrested them in a rare corruption case against a top official in the country.

Minister Marie Goretti Ketuto and her brother have appeared before an anti-corruption court accused of stealing roofing sheets from homes in the country’s poorest region.

The director of the country’s attorney general’s office, Jean-Francis Obodo, told AFP the two were charged with “two counts” of causing “losses to the government” and “conspiracy to defraud”.

They have been arrested and will appear in court again on April 12.

The panels were for low-cost housing in Karamoja, an underdeveloped area in northwest Uganda that borders Kenya and South Sudan.

Mary Goretti Ketutu is the minister responsible for Karamoja and its development. The case has caused quite a stir in Uganda.

But Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine called the accusations against the minister “nonsense”. He accused President Yoweri Museveni’s government of far worse things. “Museveni’s entire cabinet, including himself, should be in jail for corruption,” he said. He stressed that “we cannot be satisfied with an accusation related to iron sheets when government officials embezzle billions of dollars.”

In 2007, two government ministers, Jim Muhozi and Mike Mokula, were accused of embezzling millions of dollars in aid.

Source: Africa News.