A recently signed agreement between the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on behalf of the Government of Uganda and Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited has raised eyebrows within the coffee sub-sector that a section of MPs from the coffee-growing areas want terminated.
On Tuesday, a group of MPs led by the Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Dr Abed Bwanika challenged the legality of the agreement since it was entered into without the involvement of Parliament and the Attorney General.
“This is a satanic agreement; what is in this agreement is usurping the powers of Parliament which is supposed to debate each concession or agreement where the Government of Uganda is going to commit Ugandans. This had been hidden,” said Richard Lumu, the Mityana South MP.
“If Vinci wanted to take the monopoly of coffee export, it would have complied with the PPDA Act. The Minister of Finance as a senior citizen should have known that an agreement of this nature should have been debated [and approved] by Parliament,” he added.
The agreement in question was signed on 10 February 2022, amending an earlier agreement signed on 29 April 2015 and the accompanying addenda signed on 21 December 2015 and 17 October 2017.
The amendment gives Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited a monopoly over the purchase and export of coffee from Ugandan farmers.
“By so doing, that means that Vinci has powers to regulate coffee prices. We want to remind Ugandans that we operate a liberalized economy, and this agreement contravenes the constitution. The people of Uganda must be allowed the freedom to trade in coffee and any other commodities,” Bwanika said.
The company was also given a 10 year tax holiday as well as a subsidised power tariff of five cents per unit of power for 10 years.
The MPs wondered why neither the Attorney General nor the Solicitor General was involved in the signing of the agreement.