Prime
PM Nabbanja summons senior govt officials, Pinetti for crisis meeting over tea
Mr. Richard Nshumbusha, a resident of Kyamuhunga town council, Bushenyi District uprooting his tea plantation following the fall in prices. ZADOCK AMANYISA
What you need to know:
- Ms Janepher Tumusiime, a tea grower from Buhweju District, questions the composition of the meeting, saying the Prime Minister is dealing with the challenge without involving the most directly affected persons.
Senior government officials, local businesspeople and foreign investors, among others are meeting today at the Office of the Prime Minister to discuss the current tea crisis in the country.
According to the letter penned by the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabanja, on Tuesday, a number of officials from the Ministries of Agriculture, Trade, Industries and Cooperatives, Finance, Local Government, and Lands have been summoned to find solutions to the threatened tea industry.
“You are aware the country is experiencing challenges in the tea industry, resulting in the closure of some of the tea factories. This matter was discussed by the cabinet, and it was agreed that we harmonize the proposed interventions to address the challenges faced by the tea industry,” Ms Nabanja said in the letter.
According to the letter, businesswoman Ms Enrica Pinetti, the Permanent Secretaries of the mentioned ministries, the Chairperson of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports, Industrial Development (PACEID) Odrek Rwabwogo and the Presidential Advisor on Agricultural Affairs Ms Rose Kabagyenyi, among others are charged with coming up with working solutions to save the tea industry from collapsing.
The attendees also include the Chief Executive Officer of Elite Agro Holding Abdulmonem Al Marzouqi, the Director General of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) Robert Mukiza, the Commissioner of External Trade in the Ministry of Trade Mr Cleopas Ndorere and the Chairperson of the Tea Association of Uganda Gregory Mugabe, among others.
Since July last year, the tea industry in Uganda has experienced unprecedented price fluctuations at the Mombasa auction center, where the crop has struggled to fetch one US dollar per kilogramme. This has been attributed to the poor quality of green leaf processed by the factories and political unrest in Ugandan tea-consuming countries like Russia, Sudan, and the Arabic Asian countries, resulting in some farmers uprooting the crop out of frustration.
The Igara Growers Tea Factory Acting General Manager, Mr. Robert Nayebare, wants the meeting to come up with working solutions to the crisis beyond paper work and round table discussions that have been the case in the past.
“If they don’t come up with working solutions, people will lose their jobs. We wrote to the government requesting a number of things, including fertilizer subsidies, reductions in power tariffs, fuel subsidies, and a stabilization fund, to get us out of this ditch and also foster efforts to get the tea policy that will regulate the tea growing sector. We hope we will get assistance from all this,” he said.
Mrs. Janepher Tumusiime, a tea grower from Buhweju District, questions the composition of the meeting, saying the Prime Minister is dealing with the challenge without involving the most directly affected persons.
“This meeting is not well balanced. You are sitting at a roundtable with only people in offices. These people, like Enrica Pinetti and permanent secretaries, have not interacted with the crisis. Does Pinetti, who has been an issue in the coffee industry, own a tea garden or is someone else using her to rob us? Her history is not clean. The coffee industry has already seen a lot with her involvement,” Ms Tumusiime charged.
