The inspiring rise and embarrassing fall of Agnes Nandutu

The State Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Agnes Nandutu, was recently remanded to Luzira Prison by the Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo until 3rd May 2023.

This was after being charged with dealing with suspect property contrary to section 21 (a) (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act 2009. She was committed to the High Court for trial

Her case stems from her involvement in the mismanagement of iron sheets meant to be distributed to the people of Karamoja. This mismanagement has resulted in what is now famously referred to as the Karamoja Iron Sheets Scandal.

Nandutu, the third minister to be arrested and remanded to prison by court, because of the iron sheets scandal, described the ordeal as a ‘baptism of fire’ and sarcastically called Luzira Prison a ‘beach’.

The other ministers are Mary Gorreti Kitutu, the Minister of Karamoja Affairs and Woman MP for Manafwa district, and Amos Lugolobi, the State Minister for Finance in charge of Planning and MP of Ntenjeru South in Kayunga district.

Nandutu is expected to reappear before the court to apply for bail on 3rd May, however, her arrest, court appearance and remand to prison reminded Ugandans of her meteoric political rise.

Who is Nandutu?

In a local television interview shortly after being named in President Yoweri Museveni’s cabinet as State Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Nandutu broke down in tears and cried.

She sobbed and wiped off her face tears that come when one miraculously conquers and achieves unimaginable milestones.

Nandutu was born in rural Bududa district, eastern Uganda, where she says life was very hard. She attended Bumwali Primary School where she sat her PLE and excelled with five aggregates. She joined Bbulo Girl’s Secondary School and then Blucheke Secondary School before dropping out after senior four at 18 years.

With her education journey hitting a dead end, Nandutu travelled to Kenya to work as a housemaid. This adventure didn’t last long because of the continued hard life. She returned to Bududa to do odd jobs like working as a barmaid.

All this didn’t pay any better until a relative brought her to Kampala to work as a house help.

Joining the media

Despite all the hardships she faced, Nandutu managed to beat all odds to rise from a housemaid in Kenya and barmaid in her village to become a nationally celebrated broadcast journalist in Kampala.

Sources say in 1997 lady luck crossed Nandutu’s path. Someone connected and helped her join Radio Uganda, currently known as Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), as a news reporter and show host. She later pursued a diploma in Journalism at the Uganda Institute of Journalism and Media Studies.

After breaking into the media industry, she worked at Daily Monitor as a freelance reporter. Between 2002 and 2008, Nandutu also worked at Impact FM as a staff reporter before she joined NTV Uganda.

While at NTV, backed with the experience attained as a parliament reporter, Nandutu hosted a people’s parliament show. The show depicted her as a parliament speaker. On the show, she had topical issues debated and discussed.

While at NTV Uganda, in 2017, Nandutu collided with the Parliament’s Communications Director, Chris Obore. Obore suggested that only journalists with degrees should be allowed to cover Parliament. This suggestion would lock out Nandutu who at the time only had a diploma.

Obore proceeded with his suggestion to lock out journalists without degrees including Nandutu. Nandutu claims that Obore was targeting her with this directive after negatively covering the Speaker then Rebecca Kadaga.

”I did a story about former Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s extravagance in Parliament. Nothing could compromise us with my fellow journalists Francis Jjingo and Yassin Mugerwa. The director of communications and public affairs department in Parliament Mr Chris Obore was directed to deny me accreditation,” she claimed.

Her experience as a parliamentary news reporter, a TV show host and a tenure as President of the Uganda Parliamentary Press Association thrust her into the right limelight, and when she sought to join elective politics, her bed had been laid.

Joining politics 

For 20 years, she worked in the newsroom, and then the call to join elective politics beckoned. She found a home in the ruling party – the National Resistance Movement (NRM) -, much to the surprise of her fans. While it is her right to associate with NRM, many Ugandans, going by her work as a journalist, expected her to join the opposition.

Her first shot at politics, to win the NRM primaries for the Bududa WMP, was unsuccessful. She lost but was swift and bold enough to defy her party and stood as an independent. Her rebellious move earned her the WMP seat and the subsequent appointment as State Minister for Karamoja Affairs.

While victory in the parliamentary elections didn’t send shock waves across the country, being named minister by the president was surprising. Her appointment as minister was received with mixed reactions. Many Ugandans believed that she was inexperienced to handle ministerial responsibilities.

Karamoja ministry appointment

The tenure of Nandutu and Kitutu kicked off with a wrong footing. A section of elders, community leaders and politicians from the Karamoja sub-region protested the appointment. They ganged up against her appointment and wanted her removed from the post.

The leaders from Karamoja wanted Nandutu and Kitutu, who was her senior in that ministry, removed. The protestors demanded that people from Karamoja be bestowed in the ministry as ministers but not foreigners like Nandutu and Kitutu.

They complained that Nandutu and Kitutu from Bugisu sub-region don’t understand the issues of Karamoja. They also felt that both Nandutu and Kitutu were not senior enough to hold positions in a key ministry.

The two, with the backing of the president, withered the storm and commenced work.

It was not long before Nandutu courted social and political controversy. First, she made ridiculous demands like requisitioning new fancy ministerial cars, furniture and the like. To the public, a humble and mere journalist was now splashing taxpayers’ money.

Once she settled in her office, her dress code too changed. She now spotted fancy African fabrics. Her demeanour was now powerful. Many political pundits believed that now that she was dining with the regime, it had turned her into an arrogant character.

Fatal famine in Karamoja

Karamoja sub-region, with its bad climate and weather, is prone to famine. Probably because of the bad weather conditions, people in Karamoja are not known to be ardent farmers. The bad climate ensures that bad farm yields are recorded. The residents of Karamoja are naturally not good at farming food crops.

And last year, the sub-region was hit with a heavy famine that left many people, hundreds, dead. The government, private corporations, civil society, religious organizations and individuals responded by providing relief aid in terms of food, seeds and clothing.

The government, through the Office of the Prime Minister, tabled before parliament a supplementary budget of over Shs200bn to mitigate the famine and social despair in the Karamoja sub-region.

Some of this money would go into plans to resettle young cattle rustlers by providing them with farm inputs like seeds and iron sheets to build houses for resettlement.

As Ugandans waited for the money to mitigate the misfortunes in Karamoja, the reality was that the money and relief items were being stolen by government officials. Corruption scandals were brewing under the watch of Kitutu and Nandutu.

A whistleblower tipped off the State House Anti-Corruption Unit that iron sheets meant for Karamoja were being sold on the black market in Mbale.

Further investigation showed that officials at the Office of the Prime Minister, especially the Ministry of Karamoja, had gifted themselves with the iron sheets meant to benefit the vulnerable in Karamoja.

The embarrassing fall of Nandutu 

The Karamoja Iron Sheets scandal sucked in some of the top and powerful government officials including the Vice President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Parliament, ministers, MPs and district officials.

So far, three ministers, Kitutu, Lugolobi and Nandutu have been arrested, appeared before the court and remanded. Kitutu and Lugolobi have since been granted bail while Nandutu became the first culprit to be committed to the high court for trial. She remains remanded to Luzira Prison until 3rd May 2023.

Nandutu was charged with dealing with suspect property contrary to section 21a (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act 2009.

While it is too quick to correctly predict point blank what sort of impact this scandal will have on Aaaaagnes Naandutuuuu, it is safe to say that it has tainted her name in a bad light.