City Lawyers petition High Court to force Coffee Agreement termination

By Rachael Najjuma

25^th April 2022

Two city lawyers have drugged the Attorney General and one company known as Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited to high court seeking an order to compel the respondents to terminate the agreement they made regarding the coffee bean produce.

Henry Byansi and Michael Aboneka in their application filed at the High Court Civil Division this Tuesday, want court to declare that the actions made by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Matia Kasaija of secretly handpicking Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited at the detriment of other able Ugandan firms to singly manage the production, export and setting prices of coffee beans and related products.

They further content that giving the same company priority of supply of coffee have the overarching consequences of creating a monopoly through the impugned deed of amendment and restatement of the project implementation Agreement dated 10th February 2022 executed between the government and the Vinci Coffee Company Limited are a violation of Anti-Trust and Laissez-fare principles, liberation, free and open competition and unreasonably impinges on the right to own property and the interest thereof and economic rights of the applicants and those of similarly situated coffee farmers.

They also want court to declare that the failure of Minister Matia Kasaija to follow all legal and administrative processes and to make adequate consultations with the Solicitor General- SG, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries-MAAIF,  Uganda Coffee Development Authority – UCDA, Uganda Development Corporation- UDC, Uganda Investment Authority –UIA and other related agencies before purporting to execute the impugned deed of Amendment and Restatement of the project implementation Agreement with Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited tantamount to abuse and usurpation of powers and as such the same is illegal, null and void.

They now want court to issue an order canceling the agreement that was made by the government and the investment company contending that it was illegal in the first place for the agreement to be made without consulting the stakeholders in the coffee bean produce.