For the second time this year, the Ugandan Parliament has been forced to deliberate on the Uganda Coffee Development Bill 2024—a bill that seeks to dissolve the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA). This push, relentless in its urgency, is backed by an Executive that seems determined to dismantle the only country’s successful agricultural body.
When this bill was first tabled, MPs across party lines rejected it outright. Parliament, in rare unanimity, agreed that disbanding the UCDA would be a monumental error, a clear departure from common sense. Yet, President Museveni returned the bill, dismissing Parliament’s concerns and choosing to override the voices of coffee farmers, traders, processors, and cooperatives. One must ask: has the President forgotten whom he serves? Or has he come to believe that the Cabinet alone holds the monopoly on wisdom?
The government claims this dissolution is part of a cost-cutting strategy. But how do they justify a claim of saving money while throwing billions at shadowy projects like Atiak Sugar Ltd which has so far taken ugx 530bn without producing even a kilo of sugar? Or the infamous Enrica Pinneti’s Lubowa “Specialised” Hospital, a phantom project that has become a national embarrassment, costing Ugandan taxpayers over 400 billion shillings. And let’s not forget Roko Construction, which received over 500 billion. Is “saving money” the real goal, or is this about something far more insidious?
The idea that abolishing UCDA will eliminate duplication is equally absurd. If the government were serious about streamlining operations, why not start with the executive itself? We have a sprawling Cabinet with over 80 ministers, a dizzying array of Presidential Advisors, Assistants, and Envoys—each draining resources with little accountability. Why not reduce the redundancy of hundreds of Resident District/City Commissioners, Deputies, and Assistants? Can the President genuinely claim to desire an efficient government when it is bloated with political appointees who offer no value to Uganda?
Is there any other duplication of roles that is bigger than having over 20 Presidential Advisors on political affairs? Or having a Minister for International Relations, Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation & East African Community? What about having a Minister for Urban Planning, and two more Ministers for Kampala when there is an elected Lord Mayor? What is the difference between a Deputy RDC & an Assistant RDC? President Museveni is a champion of creating multiple power centers all doing the same work and therefore has no moral authority to talk about duplication of roles!
Again if he is talking about the what he termed as parasitic agencies, he should start from his back yard; How many so-called Anti-Corruption Units do we have under state house? How much money have they recovered compared to what they have received? The Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Gen Isoke, then Investors Protection Unit by Col Edith Nakalema, The State House Health Monitoring Unit etc. Why don’t we first dismantle those outfits before we remove UCDA?
It’s high time Ugandans realized that the government’s actions appear more aligned with an agenda to impoverish citizens, leaving them poor for easy manipulation. UCDA has, through tireless effort, elevated Uganda’s coffee industry, empowering farmers with knowledge, quality regulation, and international marketing that brought Uganda’s coffee earnings to over $800 million annually. Parliament’s Agriculture Committee has lauded UCDA’s achievements, recognizing that the authority is the heartbeat of Uganda’s agricultural sector. Removing such an agency is sacrilegious!
Transferring UCDA’s functions to the Ministry of Agriculture is nothing short of a disaster waiting to happen. This Ministry has proven incompetent, failing to support or regulate sectors like tea, sugarcane, and livestock. Farmers in my constituency are uprooting tea plants in desperation as tea prices plummet to a mere 200 shillings per kilo—the lowest in East Africa. The sugarcane industry fares no better, with truckloads of sugarcane that once sold for 250,000 shillings now barely reaching 50,000. Livestock farmers watch helplessly as ticks devastate their herds, and the government’s response has been silence. Foot-and-mouth disease is rampant, with quarantines choking farmers’ incomes across multiple districts. When even the fisheries sector had to be handed over to the UPDF due to ministerial incompetence, why on earth would we entrust coffee—Uganda’s flagship crop—to such a failed institution?
The time for silence has passed. If coffee farmers, traders, and processors all oppose this bill, then who, exactly, is the President representing?
As we approach the third reading of this Bill, I urge my fellow MPs to consider their duty to the citizens who elected them, not to the whims of an government that is out of touch with reality. I call upon all Ugandans to demand that Parliament upholds the interests of the people and stands firm against this catastrophic bill. Uganda’s coffee sector supports the livelihoods of over 12 million citizens—sacrificing it on the altar of political arrogance is a betrayal of our nation’s future.
Mwijukye Francis, is the MP for Buhweju County
