Nandutu slapped 10-year ban from public service

Former state minister for Karamoja affairs Agnes Nandutu has been sentenced to four years imprisonment and banned from holding public office for diverting 2,000 iron sheets meant for vulnerable communities in Karamoja.

The Anti-Corruption Court Division of the High Court on Friday ruled that the period Nandutu has spent on remand will be deducted from her sentence.

The court further directed that all the iron sheets must be returned and handed over to its intended beneficiaries citing the impact assessment of the offence on the communities in Karamoja.

Earlier in the day, Nandutu pleaded that she is a single mother, a sole bread winner in her family and also her father’s only surviving child.

“I’m a single mother of young school-going children, I’m the only able person in the family to win bread for both my family, my local family, the children, orphans that I’ve been lifting from my siblings and my ailing mother who is about 80 years suffering from pressure,” she said.

Nandutu expressed cooperation with authorities explaining that she was misled into the offence and requested for a non-custodial sentence.

“I’m a first-time offender, on such grounds, I would request this honourable court to have lenience on me. As you are aware, you know the history of my health; I have been in and out of hospital for a while, in court and up to date, my health is not okay, I’m still in and out of hospital,” she said.

She further noted that she already returned the ironsheets.

“The Iron sheets that I received, after finding out that they were intended for the people of Karamoja, Lord, I willingly returned them, I willingly told police that I had them,” she said.