Sheema district Woman Member of Parliament (MP) Rosemary Nyakikongoro stunned the House on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, when she demanded for payment on behalf of her 90-year-old father who supplied coffee seedlings to Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) four years ago.

This was during a debate on the report of the parliamentary committee on agriculture that considered a petition by Zombo Tea Nursery Operators and Farmers’ Association that decried the delayed supply of tea seedlings to farmers in the district.

The report was presented by the deputy committee chairperson and Lira district Woman MP, Linda Auma.

“My father turned 90 years old this month; he supplied coffee seedlings to UDC and four years down the road, they have never paid him,” she said during plenary chaired by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa.

“We are finding it difficult to sell government programmes. We excite people, they put in their money and they are not paid. It is becoming difficult to do business with the Government,” she added.

UDC is the investment arm of the Government mandated to promote and facilitate the industrial and economic development of the country.

Nyakikongoro, who is a member of the ruling party National Resistance Movement, did not reveal the amount of money UDC owes her father and efforts by New Vision Online to speak to her over this and other details were futile by press time.

New Vision Online was also not able to get a comment from UDC by the time of filing this story. 

Recommendations of the report

However, Parliament’s committee on agriculture recommended that the Government pays all tea seedling farmers in Zombo district who have been verified within the financial year to protect them from further economic loss.

Presenting the committee’s report on Tuesday, Auma (Lira District Woman, Independent) said in 2022 the Government agreed to a one-off arrangement to procure and distribute tea seedlings across the 16 tea growing districts including Zombo, the seedlings have not been procured to date.  

Parliament adopted the report and asked finance minister Matia Kasaija to take action and report on compensation of nursery tea farmers in Zombo District within two weeks.

Tayebwa said the finance ministry should take action on the report.