By Lawrence Mayanja
Born 61 years ago, on 17th September in Manafwa district, Hon. Mary Goretti Kitutu Kimono, is a Ugandan academician, politician and environmentalist.
Education
After attending local schools, she entered Makerere University in 1984, graduating in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Geology.
In 1993, she went back to Makerere and obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Education. Her Master of Science degree was obtained in 1998 from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente, in Enschede, Netherlands.
In 2011, she obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda.
Political Journey
In late 2015, she entered Ugandan elective politics by contesting for the Manafwa District Women Representative in the 2016 national and parliamentary elections. She ran on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) political party platform.
Kitutu won and she is the incumbent. She was appointed State Minister for the Environment on 6 June 2016.
In a cabinet reshuffle on 14 December 2019, Mary Goretti Kitutu, was named Cabinet Minister for Energy and Mineral Development. She replaced Irene Muloni, who was dropped from Cabinet after losing her parliamentary seat.
Cabinet Postings
She was appointed Minister for Karamoja Affairs on 8 June 2021, replacing Hon. John Byabagambi. She was the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, in the Ugandan Cabinet, from 14 December 2019 to 8 June 2021. Before that, from 10 June 2016, until 14 December 2019, she served as the State Minister for the Environment in the Cabinet of Uganda.
Dr Mary Goretti Kitutu concurrently serves as the elected Manafwa District Women’s Representative, in the 10th Parliament for the years 2016 – 2021.
Tables Turn
In a fully packed courtroom at the Kololo based Anti-Corruption Court, Prosecution alleged that between June 2022 and January 2023, Kitutu caused the loss of public property in the form of 14,000 pre-painted Iron sheets of gauge 28 by diverting them from the intended purpose of benefiting the Karamoja Community Empowerment Program to her own benefit and to the benefit of other third parties. Her brother Michael Naboya Kitutu, a peasant farmer and resident of Bukawekha sub-county in Namisindwa District, was charged in the same court with receiving 100 stolen iron sheets.
Court Decides
Hon. Mary Goretti Kitutu & her brother Micheal Naboya Kitutu have been charged with Conspiracy to defraud & cause loss of Public Property after she allegedly diverted iron sheets meant for vulnerable communities in the Karamoja sub-region.
The iron sheets are said to have been stolen from the office of the Prime Minister’s stores located in Namanve, Mukono District.
The duo was remanded to Luzira prison till 12th April 2023.
lawmayanja@yahoo.com is an Investigative Journalist