Buganda PM Mayiga urges Parliament to drop coffee bill

MENGO - Katikkiro of Buganda Charles Peter Mayiga has urged the  Uganda Parliament to consider dropping the bill intended to rationalize the coffee regulatory body, Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA).

Mayiga says that UCDA is very crucial in promoting the quality and quantity of the cash crop giving an example where when the Kingdom started the Emmwaanyi Terimba (campaign intended to promote coffee growing) in 2016, the agency came on board and had a Memorandum of understanding.

In this MoU, the agency gave out ten million coffee seedlings to Buganda Cultural & Cultural Development Foundation development body of the Kingdom which was distributed to farmers by the end of 2019.

Mayiga made the remarks while addressing the Kingdom subjects from different sub-counties at Bulange-Mmengo on October 29, 2024, and requested that when Parliament resumes should drop the bill which Speaker Anita Among said is heading for a second reading!

“Once again we urge Parliament to retain UCDA and ensure it’s funded further to play those five roles at the moment,” said Mayiga.

These roles Mayiga include among others; training farmers on good and appropriate farming methods, ensuring quality of the crop on farm and after harvest, ensuring sufficient quantities, popularizing coffee drinking and exploring and identifying the coffee by-products that can be realized from the coffee beans.

After doing that, Mayiga advised government to consider beefing up funding UCDA to increase its productivity and provide crucial services to the farmers.

“What needs to be done is to fund UCDA even better so that their outreach can get to every corner and every farmer in the country,”  Mayiga advised.

Uganda earns more than $900m per last financial year. About two million households amounting to between 12-15 million people being sustained by Coffee.

From that note, Mayiga said if one would like to earn as much as possible or more than they earn presently, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority should be retained among the very important agencies the country possesses.

According to UCDA reports, 50% of the country’s coffee exports arise from Buganda Kingdom. 

Buganda Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga hands over a Buganda's map to Bukulula personnel after over sh15m contribution towards the kingdom. (Credit: Dickson Kulumba)

Mayiga said that leaders at all levels cannot shy away from protecting the interests of their people.

“I heard politicians saying that we (the one protecting the coffee industry) have brought tribal sentiments in the ongoing coffee amendment bill. It’s not true. It was from Parliament where we heard tribal comments with Speaker (Anita Among) uttered unexpected comments,” Mayiga told the gathering.

He again said that Among had sent him a message denying uttering comments intended not to allow Baganda (Buganda Mps) from getting the required numbers to deter the continuation of the first reading of the Coffee amendment bill last Thursday, October 24, 2024.

Katikkiro Mayiga also commented on the reason why people are sceptical about the amendment bill because for some years but rallied the people and legislators to soldier on such that the agency is protected.

“There have been unsettling attempts by government concerning coffee starting with the Coffee Bill in 2020 which had bad clauses including imprisoning someone who had rested his coffee farm for some time. There was a plan to give a woman called Pinnetti who knew nothing about coffee monopoly over coffee, then it has brought the bill intending to abolish UCDA,” added Mayiga.

Kalungu East MP, Francis Katabaazi said that UCDA is efficient and can sustain itself unlike other agencies, the government is rationalizing. Katabaazi said that the government gives it 44b and in the end, it make 86b.

“As MPs from Buganda, joined with others from different regions, we shall fight hard to see to it that UCDA remains in its current state,” Said Katabaazi.

Over shillings 58m was brought by the People from Mukungwe, Bukulula from Buddu, Kayunga sub-county in Bugerere county and Katabi from Wakiso-Busiro areas.