Mayiga visiting John Ssentongo Kyamanyi’s five-acre coffee farm in Butambala district recently
Charles Peter Mayiga, the Katikkiro (Prime Minister) of Buganda Kingdom has expressed disappointment with Parliament after majority MPs voted in favour of the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024 that seeks to reform Uganda’s coffee industry by abolishing the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and transferring its functions to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry & Fisheries (MAAIF)
Taking to his social media accounts including X and Facebook, Mayiga said Buganda Kingdom has severally advised against scrapping UCDA since it superintends coffee production, upon which nearly 2 million Ugandan households depend.
“Apparently, scrapping UCDA is a punishment against Baganda, who contribute nearly 50% of coffee exports, since Speaker Anita Among (and those who support scrapping UCDA) see the Amendment Bill as a victory against Baganda!,” Mayiga said. He was referring to Speaker Anita Among who was overheard telling Denis Hamson Obua, the Government Chief Whip in the Parliament of Uganda, to “ensure that those Baganda (MPs) don’t get the numbers” to fail the National Coffee Amendment Bill, 2024.
The National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024 will be carried on to the Bills Committee stage for clause by clause scrutiny after 159 members voted in its favour against 77 opposing members.
Mayiga urges Ugandans to continue growing coffee.
“Emmwanyi Terimba Initiative will go on unabated…I urge Baganda (and other Ugandans) to continue growing coffee: your livelihood is more important than the motives of present day politicians,” Mayiga said.
Coffee stakeholders have on several occasions unanimously urged Government to consider rescinding a decision to merge UCDA with MAAIF, saying the latter is over loaded and that Uganda’s ‘cash cow’ may not be given the necessary priority it deserves.
During the 2023 National Coffee Dialogue on developing Uganda’s coffee value chain that took place from 10th to 11th January 2023 at Lake Victoria Serena Hotel, Prof. Ezra Suruma, who was key in the creation of UCDA in 1991, said: “The existence of Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) as an institution has been indispensable to the orderly expansion of the coffee sector.”
He added: “I think really that we must grow up. You can’t run an economy without institutions. If you have an institution working well, why abolish it? Coffee production has grown from three million to eight million bags in a period of five years (due to UCDA’s efforts).”
He said that many countries are bench-marking on Uganda’s success coffee story which has been possible due to UCDA.
He said there’s need for prioritization for Uganda.
“Each Ministry has their own priorities and coffee may not be a priority if UCDA is taken to MAAIF,” Prof. Suruma said.
He added that President Yoweri Museveni gave a policy directive to make coffee a key priority and UCDA has taken the President’s directive seriously.
He said Uganda should preserve institutions that are performing well.
“Institutions are known for methods of doing something; if you have a tested mechanism that works, then you must maintain it. The Americans say if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it. This thing (UCDA) isn’t broken. Then, why are you abolishing it? There’s nothing wrong with it,” he said, adding: “We must insist on preserving institutions that we have and are working. Don’t dissolve them.”
Suruma further asked Government to support local/indigenous participation in value addition.
Gerald Ssendaula, the former finance minister and the Chairperson of the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE), a coffee farmers’ national organisation, said not everything that needs to be done must be under a ministry.
“Let’s really appreciate that we can do a lot more where we have specialized people ready to work for this nation, for whom we can set targets to run the affairs of the coffee industry,” Ssendaula said.
