Never leave the country’s cash crop in foreign investors’ hands

The coffee deal agreement between the GoU and VINCI Coffee Company Ltd, must have been a surprise to Ugandans especially the common man whose effort and hope has always been in coffee. However, for some of us who have always followed current affairs in our country, this did not take us as a surprise because the Museveni Administration has always been involved in such non-people’s centered agreements. Most of the agreements they sign either favour a few in government or the investor thus leaving the common man to suffer in his motherland. Surprisingly, when some of us opposition politicians learn about it and speak against it, those with authority tell the public that we are against them because we are not in power or we are against growth and development in Uganda which is a lie.

Any Ugandan who went to school no matter the level that one may have stopped at, at least they will all tell you that coffee is the major cash crop of Uganda. This coffee is almost grown in all regions of Uganda especially by the common man whose dream has always been to have a better life out of this crop. To know how serious coffee is treasured in Uganda, some regions like Bugisu still have coffee cooperatives though this regime weakened cooperatives for reasons well known to it. Coffee is a strategic crop to alleviate poverty especially in a country like Uganda whose GDP mostly depends on agriculture and this is why Buganda Kingdom launched an agricultural program alias “Emwanyi Terimba” literally if you planted coffee, you will not regret.

 Buganda Kingdom believes that by growing coffee, poverty shall be alleviated and through the premier of Buganda Kingdom, Charles Peter Mayiga, much effort is being put in to sensitize the public about the benefits of growing coffee, how to grow it and give hope to farmers that emwanyi terimba.

The foreign investors’ major target is to make huge profits out of the businesses they ran but these profits never remain in Uganda. These profits are repatriated. Most of the foreign investors that we have in Uganda hardly have the nation at heart. They come here in disguise of creating more jobs such that Ugandans earn a living but instead they come along with almost half of the employees they would need to work and the few Ugandans who may be lucky to be employed are assigned with average jobs, heavy unhealthy duties, tortured and poorly paid.

At times you wonder what our investment policy is! Surely, would these be the kind of foreign investors that Uganda needs to improve on production and our lives or we instead need to empower our local investors with land, tax exemptions and other benefits that are usually awarded to foreign investors? Over the world, there is no country that leaves its economy into the hands of foreign investors and develops.

It would be treason to leave the country’s cash crop into the hands of foreign investors who would have monopoly over coffee. In fact, I support the notion that this agreement should be terminated then those who got involved in signing it should be censured and fined to save the country from more scandalous investment deals which end up benefitting a few but a torment to the cohort.

What the government must do is to engage stakeholders involved in the business of coffee to devise possible means on how the coffee business should be run by local investors, how value should be added on coffee so as to enable it compete on the world market but not to risk the country’s cash crop and economy. Never leave the country’s cash crop into the foreign investor’s hands.

The author, Allan Mayanja  is MP,  Nakaseke Central County.         [email protected]