Uganda, fertile and sun-drenched, is harboring dreams of becoming the next cannabis (marijuana) hotshot of the African continent. Foreign capital has been flowing in to launch the new industry. So, much hangs in the balance as the country’s cabinet weighs changes to the criminal code allowing cultivation to proceed.
There appears to be a tension between the lure of a lucrative new agro-export sector and a conservative political culture in a traditionally authoritarian country.
The government is now in the process of reviewing colonial-era laws that prohibit production of cannabis. The license for Together Pharma, a major player in the Israeli cannabis industry, has reportedly been “suspended” (not cancelled) following demands for legal clarity from other cabinet ministers. Especially named is the state minister for Finance & Investment, Evelyn Anite.
In the west of the country, along the shores of Lake
Dweru,Israeli company Together Pharma awaits
approval to start planting. The operation was licensed by the State Agriculture Ministry and
cleared by the Uganda Investments Authority to cultivate
for the international medical marijuana market.
Agriculture Minister Christopher Kibazanga, who granted the licenses, struck a
cautious tone when he spoke to Kampala’s New Vision on the
sidelines of a meeting of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural
Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) last week. “It is
important for us to have clarity on what we want to achieve from this venture,
instead of doing things haphazardly and turn the whole country upside down,” he
said.
Progress and Backlash
Uganda’s government is said to be weighing 20 bids from
companies and individuals seeking clearance to cultivate and export medical
marijuana. The African Exponent calls
it a “cannabis scramble” in the East African nation.
But there is more than a whiff of reefer madness to the Exponent’s quote from
Health Minister Sarah Opendi. “Marijuana growing without proper control
measures can be dangerous to our youthful population,” she said. “Already it is
the second highest cause for the Butabika hospital admissions majority of whom
are youth.” Butabika is the capital Kampala’s main psychiatric institute. The
notion that psychiatric episodes are being “caused” by cannabis is almost
certainly based on flawed assumptions.
Agriculture Minister Kibazanga remains bullish on cannabis, even while clearly feeling the need to appease the conservatives. “The crop is among the most valuable on the international markets because of it being medicinal plant, but as government we are worried some Ugandans may end up being drug dealers. That is why we need strong regulations, which the top government decision-makers are in the process of coming up with,” he told EABW Digital international business website.
Seed Stock Imported
A report last month on The East African website said that while the cabinet debates, the Uganda Revenue Authority has approved the importation of 2,000 kilograms of cannabis seed by eager would-be cultivators. Varieties imported from seed banks in the Netherlands and Sri Lanka are said to include Desfrán, Durban Poison, Frisian Dew, Mazar, Power Plant, Shaman, and the CBD-heavy Charlotte’s Angel
Kibanzanga said the seed importers have expressed
frustration over the delays. He told the local Daily Monitor at the
ASERECA conference: “We are aware that investors are becoming impatient and
they have a right to do so. Some of them are investors from Israel, United
States of America, Canada and others are from research institutions, all
writing to me over the matter — growing of marijuana.”
The recent flurry of media attention to the question of legality in Uganda is
testimony to investor impatience, and may prompt the cabinet to finally submit
changes to the country’s parliament amending the current law. Kibazanga claimed
authority for granting the licenses under provisions of the 2015 Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances Act 2015, but conservative cabinet members say this
conflicts with a 1902 law put in place by British colonial administrators and
never formally overturned.
Africa’s Fourth Legal Producer
If the legal logjam does break, Uganda will be the fourth country
on the African continent to permit cannabis cultivation to one degree or
another. At the forefront is the small and landlocked mountain kingdom of
Lesotho, which is aggressively embracing commercial cannabis production as
a ticket out of poverty and under-development.
Lesotho is surrounded on all sides by regional giant South Africa, which now
allows personal cultivation following a favorable court ruling last year. South
Africa’s farmers, especially small black farmers who have been hit hard by
globalization, have launched an initiative to allow commercial cannabis
cultivation as well.
A less likely candidate is traditionally authoritarian Zimbabwe, which last
year legalized medical marijuana cultivation by
order of the Health Ministry.
Uganda seems an unlikely candidate as well. The country’s harsh anti-gay laws have especially drawn criticism from international human rights groups. But the process is in the works, with pressure growing daily on the cabinet to give the go-ahead for eager cultivators to break ground.
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Credit: Cannabisnow
