The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has asked the government of Uganda to protect and preserve the key parastatals that have stood the test of time and have been important in improving the livelihoods of the common man.

While addressing the press on October 30, 2024, at the Uganda House in Kampala, the party spokesperson Sharon Oyat Arach said that the current government needs to protect authorities like UCDA rather than dissolving them.

“UPC makes a serious observation that our durable parastatals have been dismantled through such a debate as one involving the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) as well as the Uganda Cotton Development Organization and Dairy Development Authority back to the line Ministry of Agriculture as mere departments; we are asking that we leave these authorities independent rather than merging them,” Arach said.

Arach also gave justification as to why some authorities should be protected and saved from being merged into the line ministries as departments.

“Uganda as a country, we need to reflect very heavily on that type of wisdom and jealously protect our key parastatals like the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, which in anyway is a gateway to our economic development. This can be achieved through embracing a mixed economic model that gives public parastatals more freedom to perform and exist without threats of being dismantled,” Arach added.

UPC’s stand is not different from other key opposition political parties stands, who have all stood firm in rejecting the rationalization of the Uganda coffee development authority.

FDC, NUP, NEED, and DP have already come out to reject the Rationalization of UCDA, citing the fear of the Ministry of Agriculture not being able to manage and maintain the quality and quantity of coffee produced, which is likely to cause a drop in prices, thus making coffee farmers poor.