NAKABUYE SHEILAH
Managers at the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID) are worried that the project may become a white elephant despite billions of shillings having been sunk in it over the last 12 years.
The managers said that government appears to be dragging its feet on a number of issues that has affected the effective operation of the project.
One of them is to transform the project into a commercial concern.
According to Prof. Florence Muranga the executive director of the project, the bureaucrats in government have let down the value addition initiative.
"They are not moving as fast and we want them to. When we want something to be done, for them they take time to act," he said.
Muranga says despite the products being marketed and appreciated, the project is not a legal entity and cannot commit itself with any partners.
This, she says, has a long term effect on future partnerships.
Apart from the delay in the issuance of the financial certificate, the project is also faced with challenges like inadequate funding and inadequate banana yields which is affecting agreements with would be investors.
The minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, EliodaTumwesigye, government is in the process of streamlining the operations and see transition of the project to a legal entity.
PIDIB, was established in 2005 to reduce the wastage of matooke produced in western Uganda and to add value to the product.
