Opposition members of Parliament are set to traverse coffee-growing areas in Uganda to sensitise farmers about what could befall them if the agreement between the government and Vinci Coffee Company comes into force.
According to the legislators, the agreement is counterproductive to the country's interests.
The agreement which was recently signed between the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on behalf of the government and Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited raised eyebrows within the coffee sub-sector that a section of MPs from the coffee-growing areas want it terminated.
As such on Tuesday, a group of MPs led by the shadow minister for Agriculture, Dr. Abed Bwanika (Kimaanya – Kabonera Division) challenged the legality of the agreement since it was entered into without the involvement of Parliament and the Attorney General.
Richard Lumu, the Mityana South MP said: "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."
The agreement in question was signed on February 10 2022, amending an earlier agreement signed on April 29 2015 and the accompanying addenda signed on December 21 2015 and October 17 2017.
The MPs claimed the amendment gives Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited a monopoly over the purchase and export of coffee from Ugandan farmers.
By doing so, Bwanika said that means that Vinci has powers to regulate coffee prices.
"We want to remind Ugandans that we operate a liberalised economy, and this agreement contravenes the Constitution. The people of Uganda must be allowed the freedom to trade in coffee and any other commodities," he said.
The company was also given a 10-year tax holiday as well as a subsidised power tariff of 5 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.
