President Yoweri Museveni and MPs from three Committees of Parliament working on the rationalization of state agencies, have agreed to retain the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) as an autonomous entity for the next three years.
Government wants to transfer UCDA to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) as it aims to save Shs1 trillion per year after rationalizing the agencies in question.
The decision to retain the UCDA for the next three years was taken during Tuesday’s meeting at State House Entebbe that was attended by MPs on the Parliamentary Committees of Agriculture, National Economy and Finance. It was also attended by members of the Executive led by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja and Abed Bwanika, the NUP Member of Parliament for Kimanya-Kabonera, who up a spirited defense to retain UCDA as an independent entity.
“This ministry called MAAIF has no capacity to handle the coffee industry. The technical people there (at MAAIF) are ever travelling; they are looking for workshops, allowances; they are not in offices, they’re not on the ground, they cannot handle this industry,” Bwanika told the attentive Museveni amid applause from MPs who are against the rationalization of UCDA.
Bwanika added that the coffee industry is a business industry that needs people who can handle their issues knowing that it’s business.
“The concept of the Ministry handling [the coffee industry] is not a bad concept, but let us first build the capacity of that ministry; get it organized so that this coffee industry which you have built [doesn’t collapse]. Should we hand it over to MAAIF in that state, the industry is going to collapse and the 12.5m Ugandans who earn their livelihood from coffee are going to be affected,” Bwanika explained as Museveni listened with a beaming face.
Bwanika added that the coffee industry has a sensitive market especially on issues of quality.
“The quality industry is based on certification and accreditation. When they are certifying or accrediting, they base on a system which is already built, they base on manpower who are specialized and Uganda has invested in those. The moment we simply transfer the roles of UCDA to MAAIF, we are going to lose some of these accreditation and certifications that will heavily affect our market and it will heavily affect our incomes from coffee,” Bwanika said as he asked President Museveni to “humbly postpone the transfer of the roles of UCDA to MAAIF so that we can have time and organize that ministry, to build their capacity to handle this very strategic industry which is a backbone to our country.”
After a long debate, Museveni and MPs agreed to proceed with the transfer of Uganda Coffee Development Authority and the Dairy Development Authority to MAAIF. President Museveni called for a law that would dissolve the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, but this law would only come into effect after three years.
However, despite this temporary agreement, some MPs still insist that UCDA should be retained as an autonomous agency since it is crucial in overseeing coffee regulation in Uganda.
Addressing journalists yesterday, Kashari North MP, Basil Rwankwene Bataringaya, said at the end of the three years, all the stakeholders would have reached the conclusion on how to handle the strategic coffee sector.
“It means that UCDA will continue with regulation of the coffee sector, but assisted by the Ministry of Agriculture because the fear of the MPs is that the people of the Ministry of Agriculture might not be having the capacity that has been built in UCDA to receive and push forward our coffee sector,” said Bataringaya.
On the rationalization of the Diary Development Authority, Bataringaya said: “The conclusion was that the Dairy Development Authority is returned to the Ministry so it is rationalized. So the law is concluded.”
