Minister Kasaija grilled over controversial Coffee deal

By Francis Lubega

27^th April 2022

The Government has been faulted for committing Uganda’s coffee without doing any feasibility study.                        

Members of Parliament on the Committee of Trade, Industry and Tourism that is investigating the coffee agreement between Government and Uganda Vinci Coffee Company-UVCC were shocked to learn that the Government entered into this agreement without seeing the feasibility study of the company which would have formed a basis to sign the agreement.

This followed a submission by Charles Byarugaba, a technical officer from the Ministry of Finance, who informed the committee that Government had never seen any feasibility study about the company.

In reply, the Minister for Finance Matia Kasaija said that the Government was more interested in having a company to add value to Ugandan coffee than the feasibility study.

This irked the MPs on the committee and the Jinja North division MP David Isabirye told the Minister to retire which caused an exchange of words between the minister and the MPs.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka has disputed public and parliamentary allegations by MPs that the recently signed coffee agreement is aimed at creating a monopoly in the coffee sector.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Trade committee chaired by Mwine Mpaka, Kiwanuka said that the agreement doesn’t stop any player in the sector from engaging in the business.

He further stated that the agreement only aims at valve addition onto Uganda’s coffee as per the law.