The president of the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party, Joseph Kabuleta, while addressing the media on November 4, 2024, at the NEED headquarters in Mengo, made cynical and disingenuous comments about the ongoing coffee bill that seeks to rationalize the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) to its mother Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF).

To Kabuleta, the rationalization of UCDA is a deliberate move by President Museveni to prevent rural wealth accumulation and suppress any financial gains among farmers or anyone who engages themselves in any legitimate commercial activity.

“When he took over in 1986, Uganda’s coffee exports were valued at USD 94 million, which managed to support livelihoods by then. If there’s one thing that concerns him, it’s the idea of rural Ugandans attaining prosperity. The timing of the merger is very strategic, as Uganda’s coffee earnings have surged significantly, increasing from USD 846 million in 2022-2023 to USD 1.14 billion in the financial year that ended mid-2024, marking a substantial USD 300 million growth,” he said.

“This means that people who have been growing coffee and not seeing the dividends of it are now becoming richer in rural areas, and that’s what keeps Museveni up because he has spent 40 years involved in an economic civil war trying to make Ugandans poor because he thinks poor people are easier to govern,” Kabuleta added.

The unfortunate and rather contradictory utterances by a political failure of Kabuleta’s nature underscore the consistent disinformation and misinformation of the public by opposition political failures who do not wish Ugandans well but instead want to use everything for political capital.

Kabuleta is one of those opposition politicians whose aim is to oppose everything, including good initiatives and policies aimed at the socio-economic development of Ugandans, but simply because these politicians work on behalf of the anti-Uganda forces, they try all means to keep relevant by misleading the public as they account for the dirty funds received.

Kabuleta further mentioned that Uganda’s coffee exports were valued at USD 94 million by 1986, but he does not continue to inform Ugandans that Uganda was producing two million bags of coffee at that time. However, due to President Museveni’s intervention and broad-based approach, Uganda currently produces nine million bags of coffee, attracting over USD 900 million in coffee export earnings.

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Claiming that rationalization of UCDA is a move aimed at making the common Uganda poor is not only hypocritical but a sign that Kabuleta and cronies are clueless of Uganda’s history and should be treated with the contempt they deserve. It should be noted that UCDA was created by President Museveni’s regime through the act of Parliament in 1991, migrating from the coffee marketing board.

Kabuleta needs to understand that several other agencies and authorities were created after UCDA in a move that was aimed at transitioning from the colonial approach that made Uganda’s economy depend on 3Cs (coffee, cotton, and copper) and 3Ts (tobbaco, tea, and tourism). Those agencies, like the Dairy Development Authority, National Agricultural Advisory Services, and many others, later turned out to be parasitic, and that is why the government has decided to rationalize them. Why should Kabuleta and cronies focus on UCDA alone when many other agencies and authorities are being rationalized?

President Museveni and the NRM transitioned Uganda’s economy from the 3Cs and 3Ts to a broad-based horizontal and vertically integrated approach that has seen all other crops promoted for commercialization, a move that has made 68 households join the money economy, which was not the case before. This is the truth the Kabuleta and group do not want to tell the public.

The parasitic nature of these agencies and authorities promoted waste and parasitism. The 2016/2017 public resource spending figures showed that agencies and authorities were taking UGX 2.2 trillion and the ministries UGX 2.6 trillion with duplication of responsibilities. The conducted survey indicated that agencies like UCDA were corrupt and wasteful, with officers awarding themselves contracts, supplying poor-quality, overpriced materials, and not delivering on time.

It is therefore in order for all Ugandans to support the rationalization of these agencies to avoid similar problems. It should be noted that UCDA going back to its mother ministry will not stop the growing of coffee in Uganda and will streamline value addition as always preached by President Museveni so that coffee-producing countries will benefit more than they get currently. The hypocritical nature of these opposition politicians like Kabuleeta should be ignored by all Ugandans of good will for the socio-economic development of Uganda.