The Masindi High Court has scheduled Thursday, February 26, 2026, to begin hearing a case in which the Bunyoro Sugarcane Cooperative Union seeks to restore roadside weigh-bridges that government authorities closed over allegations of facilitating sugarcane theft.
The union filed Civil Suit number 0002 of 2026 challenging the closure of the weigh bridges. Government officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, accompanied by police, closed the Rukondwa Weigh Bridge in Bikonzi Sub-county, Bujenje County, and the Kihande–Mile 2 Weigh Bridge in Masindi Municipality on February 13.
In its application, the cooperative is seeking court orders to quash a directive by the Ministry of Internal Affairs suspending its privately owned weigh-bridges.
It also wants an order prohibiting the Ministry of Trade from implementing the directive and a declaration that the suspension is unlawful.
However, when the matter came up on Monday before Masindi Resident Judge Mary Babirye, the hearing did not proceed after it was reported that the state attorney representing the Uganda Police Force, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Trade had not yet been served.
Lawyer Susan Zemei, representing the cooperative union, requested additional time to serve the state attorney, committing to do so promptly.
The court then fixed February 26 for the hearing of the application and March 5 for the main suit.
The dispute arises from government measures to curb sugarcane theft, which stakeholders say have cost them millions of shillings over the years.
In a ministerial directive dated February 7, 2025, Trade Minister Francis Mwebesa ordered the immediate closure of roadside weigh-bridges and truck scales used to weigh sugarcane in transit.
The move aimed to improve traceability and reduce theft, directing millers to purchase cane directly from the fields and weigh it at approved facilities.
Ministerial guidance clarified that farmers not bound by contracts remain free to sell cane to any miller of their choice.
A February 6, 2026, letter to the Inspector General of Police from Internal Affairs Minister General Kahinda Otafiire cited a police report from November 7, 2025, which linked sugarcane thefts to roadside weigh-bridges.
Last year, State Minister for Trade General Wilson Mbadi convened a stakeholders’ meeting with millers, farmers, district leaders, and ministry officials to discuss measures to improve traceability.
Agreed steps included branding trucks transporting cane and ensuring millers purchase directly from farmers rather than roadside collection points.
The Masindi court proceedings will now determine the legality of the government’s actions and the future operation of private roadside weigh-bridges in the Bunyoro region.
