KAMPALA – Another Minister has been arrested over the iron sheets scandal. The State Minister for Finance and Planning Amos Lugoloobi becomes the second minister to be arrested in the scandal after the minister of Karamoja affairs, Mary Kitutu Goretti, who secured a court bail on Friday after spending a week in jail.
Lugoloobi had used the iron sheets meant for Karamoja relief to roof a shed for animals on his farm which he later removed last month calling them “evil”.
“I have realised that these iron sheets are evil and I no longer need them. Let me remove it so that I buy other iron sheets and re-roof my shed so that no one can lay claim that I owe them anything on my property,” he said after admitting to receiving them.
The Ntenjeru North MP now detained by Kira Road Police had reportedly received up to 600 iron sheets said to be part of relief material that the government procured through the OPM for vulnerable populations in Karamoja, Teso, Northern Uganda, Luweero Triangle, Bunyoro sub-regions.
Earlier this week, President Yoweri Museveni blamed his ministers for trying to do the cheap popularity of fund-raising thus stealing to please their voters.
“The problem with the political class is that some of them have not internalized the NRM line on social-economic transformation and they, opportunistically, try to do the cheap popularity of fund-raising, giving mabaati, giving big numbers of bursaries, etc.”
“They end up with debts and desperate efforts to look for donations, efforts that can lead into mistakes of being tempted to divert what is meant for A to B,” President tweeted.
He called it a political mistake that can also be subversive.
“That mistake, however, is totally different from converting those items to personal use. That is no longer just a mistake, but theft.”
He also promised that all those involved will be handled appropriately.
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