The late Dr. Emmanuel Iyamulemye
Dr. Emmanuel Iyamulemye Niyibigira, the former Managing Director at the defunct Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) was announced dead on November 18, 2025. At only 60 years of age (born on December 18, 1964), Dr. Iyamulemye succumbed to cancer and was laid to rest at his ancestral home in Kisoro on Friday November 21, 2025.
He was the UCDA Managing Director from 2016-2024. When UCDA was abolished, he was appointed the inaugural Commissioner of the newly formed Coffee Department in the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry & Fisheries (MAAIF) from January to April 2025.
During his 8-year stint at the helm of UCDA, Iyamulemye built a legendary status among coffee stakeholders. This was mainly due to his professionalism, management style, humility and above all, his enormous contribution to the growth of Uganda’s coffee sector. It’s rare to find a top CEO of Iyamulemye’s caliber in both public and private sector. At coffee related gatherings/events, Iyamulemye interacted freely with all stakeholders; he would often join stakeholders in informal discussions, thereby understanding the challenges they were going through.
The soft-spoken Iyamulemye was dedicated to the task of transforming the coffee sector. He would be in office by 7am and it wasn’t surprising to find him in office working or attending to the stakeholders during public holidays. His humility and desire to transform Uganda’s coffee sector saw him hold meetings with various stakeholders at all levels. He wouldn’t hesitate to listen to stakeholders as long as they had good ideas aimed at driving the coffee sector forward. He disassociated himself from corruption and empowered his staff to perform their respective roles without interference.
That’s why UCDA was generally corrupt and scandal-free during his reign as Managing Director.
His outstanding achievements is the reason why coffee stakeholders unanimously wanted UCDA to remain independent and in-charge of the coffee sector during Government’s rationalization program.
His death at this critical movement touched almost every stakeholder; he was eulogized by many on various social media platforms, literally explaining his impact not only on them, but the entire coffee sector.
His contributions and achievements
According to MAAIF, besides providing strategic leadership to UCDA, promoting long-term growth and financial sustainability of the Authority, and overseeing UCDA’s day-today operations, Iyamulemye supported private land owners, churches, cultural institutions to engage in coffee production. An average of 548 acres of land have been converted to coffee growing annually. He also secured funding from the European Union for the Coffee and Cocoa Value Chain Development Project (CoCoDev), a project aimed at increasing acreage under coffee and cocoa. The UGX25.5bn project co-funded by the EU and the Government of Uganda has seen thousands of farmers get free planting materials.
Charles Peter Mayiga, the Premier of Buganda Kingdom, acknowledged Iyamulemye’s contribution to the coffee sector, saying: “I got to know him when the Kingdom of Buganda (under EMMWANYI TERIMBA initiative) and the now scraped coffee authority – UCDA, signed a Memorandum of Undertaking in 2017 which contributed to an unprecedented rise in the quantity and quality of coffee grown in Buganda. He was deeply committed to his job, which he carried out with visible humility. Our condolences to his family, friends and former colleagues in UCDA.”
MAAIF further says Iyamulemye successfully coordinated the implementation of the Uganda Coffee Roadmap, a presidential directive aimed at producing and exporting 20m bags of coffee by 2030.
As a result, coffee exports increased from 4.2m bags valued at USD 489.78M in 2016/7 to 6.2m bags valued at USD1.14billion in 2023/24.
He also increased international recognition of Uganda as a reliable exporter of commercial and specialty coffees in new and emerging markets of China, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, UAE, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, and Japan.
Further, he promoted value addition and exports of value-added Ugandan coffees.
He also supported the revamping of International Women’s Coffee Alliance-Uganda Chapter (IWCA-Ug) and the Uganda Coffee Roasters Association (UCRA) which produces over 250 coffee brands from 15 roasteries. The value of exported coffee increased by 34% from US$1.8 to US$2.4 per kilogram, surpassing the target of 15% in the Coffee roadmap by 2022/23.
Iyamulemye also increased the certification of coffee value addition facilities namely; hullers from 454 to 1,093; washing stations from 22 to 131, roasters from 14 to 90, export grading plants from 21 to 37 and buying stores from 506 to 2,164. Coffee exporters increased from 73 to 132 during his tenure.
Importantly, he fostered collaboration with the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), the world’s leading body in coffee quality training and certification. The CQI awarded Q Venue recognition to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, making the UCDA Coffee Laboratory an internationally recognized centre of excellence for coffee quality assessment. This enabled UCDA, now MAAIF Coffee Department to offer Q Arabica and Q Robusta training, especially to the youth interested in building a career in the coffee industry.
Iyamulemye also worked towards the development of comprehensive taste profiles of Uganda Coffee in collaboration with the CQI.
7 regional flavours and tastes for the Uganda Robusta Coffee and 2 regional flavours and taste profiles for the Uganda Arabica Coffee according to the origin Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) were profiled.
He also initiated a mechanism for Uganda’s compliance and alignment with the European Union Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) thereby ensuring continued access of Uganda coffee to the European Union Market.
Iyamulemye further conducted a feasibility study for the establishment of a soluble coffee plant in Uganda as a strategic initiative designed to optimize the country’s coffee production value. The proposed plant will have capacity of 5,000MT pa at estimated cost of US$48.1m.
According to Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Iyamulemye positioned Uganda as one of the world’s most competitive coffee origins.
“He fought firmly in international coffee bodies/ foras demanding for the correct classification of African coffees (Uganda’s robusta & Ethiopia’s Arabica). He was a bold, firm and intelligent officer,” Tumwebaze said in his eulogy to Iyamulemye.
Dr. Iyamulemye you have departed this earthly world, but you will forever live among Uganda’s coffee stakeholders, thanks to your outstanding contributions to the sector. May your soul Rest in Eternal Peace.
Truly he was patriotic may his soul RIP.