I am the culprit behind Pinetti coffee deal, come beat me if you like, says Museveni
President Museveni has insisted that he is the one who initiated the controversial coffee agreement signed between Italian businesswoman Enrica Pinetti’s company and the government of Uganda.
Following the signing of the deal, there was a heated debate over the same , with many Ugandans especially coffee farmers saying it is a bad deal done in bad faith.
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However, quoting several media reports that indicated that the deal was bad, Museveni insisted that in case the agreement is a bad one, he is to blame, daring those aggrieved to sort everything with him.
“In other words, Museveni is committing a crime by trying to add value to the Ugandan Coffee. I am the culprit, come punish me. In other words, am committing a crime trying to add value to our coffee,” Museveni said.
He was speaking during Uganda’s 60th Independence Day celebrations at Kololo Independence grounds.
Museveni said that for many years, he has championed the war on value addition for Uganda’s products despite stiff opposition.
“Since 1986, I have been trying to get investors to add value to our coffee. On November,12, 1997, I wrote a letter to Hon. Mayanja Nkangi to complain about lack of movement on the issue. Our farmers are paid an equivalent of $ 70 cents per kg of low-grade coffee. The same kilogram, when roasted, ground into powder and packaged, it sells for $12.9 in a Super market. This is the slavery I cannot accept.”
He explained that there is a hemorrhage of Ugandan products that are exported without any value added onto them, mentioning that the country loses a lot of money through this.
According to Museveni, he has had fight with political actors over value addition with the latter sticking to importing products yet raw materials are available locally.
“In Uganda, we have had to fight the neo-colonial politicians, civil servants, parasitic importing merchants, on account of this hemorrhage. Are there professors of economics in Africa? Of course, it should be the political leaders that should evolve policies about these issues. The question, however, is: If the political actors do not see this hemorrhage, why should the academicians not see it? Are they not supposed to scan the global system as to what is going on where and why? Are professors and academicians, not supposed to use their knowledge to see what is good or bad for their people? It is a tragedy.”
