Ugandan prosecutors on Monday criminally charged a second government minister with corruption-related offenses in a scandal stemming from the diversion of roofing sheets that should have been distributed to vulnerable people.
Amos Lugoloobi, the state minister for finance in charge of planning, pleaded not guilty to the charges when he was arraigned in a courtroom in the capital, Kampala. Another minister, Mary Goretti Kitutu, was similarly charged last week.
At least 22 top officials are implicated in the scandal, including the vice president, the parliamentary speaker, the prime minister and government ministers. More officials are likely to be charged later this week.
President Yoweri Museveni, whose government is often accused of lacking the political will to stem corruption, has ordered detectives to investigate the case and indict those deemed responsible for diverting thousands of metallic roofing sheets that had been appropriated for people in the remote region of Karamoja.
The scandal came to light in February after the local New Vision newspaper reported that security officials in eastern Uganda had intercepted government-branded iron sheets being sold by relatives of Kitutu, the minister in charge of Karamoja.