24TH OCTOBER 2O24
The National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024 will be carried on to the Bills Committee stage for clause by clause scrutiny after 159 members of parliament voted in its favour against 77 opposing members.
Speaker Anita among called for the voting to go for the next stage to handle the bill clauses per clause after some members of parliament objected to the method of making the decision on the matter, then the speaker ruled for the mps to vote by writing their names on the register to calm the tempers of the mps.
MPs from coffee growing areas fiercely rejected the abolishing of UCDA and have its functions taken over by the Ministry of Agriculture, saying such a move will see coffee suffer similar fate as Vanilla and Tea that have been killed under the watch of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Butambala County mp who doubles as Chairperson, Buganda Parliamentary Caucus Muwanga kivumbi wondered why Parliament should legislate in anticipation that one day, the Ministry of Agriculture may have capacity to manage Uganda’s coffee sector yet all performance and audit reports indicate the Ministry is performing poorly in all projects under their watch.
The leader of opposition Joel Ssenyonyi argued that the Government has to empower UCDA in order to develop Uganda’s coffee sector and let the Ministry of Agriculture focus on its current roles, because the performance reports already indicate the Ministry is already struggling to fulfill its current mandate.
Ssenyonyi wanted Parliament to listen to the voices of MPs from coffee growing areas, just as they listen to MPs from cattle corridors and cotton growing areas, who asked MPs to shut up on matters of their products, as they preferred to have their agencies moved back to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mbale city woman mp Connie Nakayenze (Mbale City) wondered why the Committee of Agriculture painted a rosy picture of the achievements of UCDA, only to turn around and recommend the merger of UCDA which she said if done, would be akin to sucking blood from the lives of people from Busigu region.
“The report clearly gave the role of UCDA among which was that market standards are fulfilled, it also said UCDA provides timely prices on a daily basis. If at all the report gave all those good complements at UCDA, then why did the conclusion come the way it became? Bugisu, if you remove UCDA, it is like you are draining blood from all the Bagisu because they depend on coffee,” said Nakayenze.
Kakuuto County MP Geoffrey Lutaaya explained that “I am wondering why you people preach patriotism yet you aren’t patriotic. You pretend like you are serving good food, yet you know you have poison in that food. You know the curse you are creating for your family, you know what coffee means to most of our families.”
Speaker Anita Among after voting sent parliament into recess and when they resume they will handle the bill to determine whether its finally rationalized or not
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