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Who is Mary Goretti Kitutu
Dr Mary Goretti Kitutu
What you need to know:
- Dr Kitutu enrolled at Makerere University in 1984 to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and geology, graduating in 1987.
Dr Mary Goretti Kitutu is the minister of Karamoja Affairs and Woman MP for Manafwa. Her husband is Mr Micheal Ktiutu, a retired certified accountant.
She was born in a part of the then Manafwa District, which was carved out to form the neighbouring district of Namisindwa on September 17, 1962.
She went to Situmi Primary School in Bukhaweka Sub-county, now Namisindwa District, where she sat for her Primary Seven exams, and later attended the then rather prestigious Tororo Girls Schools for both O and A –level.
Dr Kitutu enrolled at Makerere University in 1984 to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and geology, graduating in 1987. Six years later, she obtained a postgraduate diploma in education from the same university in 1993.
In 1998, she was awarded a Master of Science degree in Environment Systems Analysis and Monitoring from the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente, in Enschede, Netherlands.
Slightly over a decade later, she obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Science from Makerere University.
Her first job out of university was as a teacher at the notable Busoga College Mwiri in Jinja, from 1988 until 1991.
After leaving Mwiri in 1991, she taught at Our Lady of Good Counsel School, in Gayaza, Wakiso District until 1996.
The minister then traded the chalkboard for consultancy work at Axis Technical Geo-Mineral Consult between 1998 and 2001.
In April 2002, she was hired as a research officer and environmental specialist at the National Environment Management Authority, serving in that capacity until February 2015.
She later joined the employ of Tetra Tech, a project sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, as a senior technical advisor and environmental monitor.
The minister’s working life has covered a broad spectrum in the areas of environment information systems and management; geotechnical assessments; disaster and vulnerability assessments, and environmental monitoring.
She is well-travelled as would be expected of someone with working experience involving international organisations such as the United Nations, the Inter-Government Authority on Development, African Union and the East African Community.
READ: Kitutu breaks cover: Quizzed over relatives in iron sheets saga
I've lost weight because of unending challenges in Karamoja
Politics
Dr Kitutu began her political career by contesting for the position of Manafwa Woman MP in the 2016 General Election, which she won.
President Museveni appointed her Minister of State for Environment from 2016 until 2020, when she was moved to ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, where she replaced fellow daughter of the soil, Ms Irene Muloni.
The mother of seven was appointed Minister of Karamoja Affairs in 2021, deputised by Ms Agnes Nandudu, the Woman MP for Bududa District, also in Bugisu.
On LinkedIn, a virtual professional network, Dr Kitutu describes herself as an administrator and a hardworking person.
“I have served under different government capacities and in different government entities since 1988 during my days as a teacher at Busoga College Mwiri. I have been an administrator, an employee, an employer and a hardworking person,” her profile reads.
Sounding empathetic, in March 2022, the minister complained to this publication that the government was not allocating enough resources to address issues dogging Karamoja.
At the time, the region was grappling with a resurgence in insecurity, and people were starving to death as a consequence of a particularly harsh drought and famine. This catastrophe was aggravated by the fact that Karamoja is always falling behind in general national development.
In that Monitor report, the minister was also quoted saying she had lost weight because of the pressure from her colleagues in other ministries, some of whom seemed to think her ministry was not performing.
‘‘We are getting too much pressure. Our colleagues are firing at us all the time because the current situation in Karamoja is making us to be seen as not performing,’’ Dr Kitutu said.
But nearly a year since her appointment, the minister is now in the eye of the storm, battling allegations of mismanagement and diversion of relief items acquired using scarce public resources to help the very people of Karamoja she had seemed to be very concerned about.
It will be remembered that MPs from Karamoja protested her appointment on grounds that she did not understand the problems of the sub-region because she is from another region.
However, Dr Kitutu is not the first non-Karimojong to be appointed minister for the area. Her notoriety lies in something more insidious – alleged theft from the most-down-trodden in Ugandan society.
