The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has reiterated his support for the deal the government made with Vinci Coffee Company Ltd to process and export Ugandan coffee.
The controversial deal has drawn widespread condemnation from sections of the political class and people involved in the coffee industry, saying it deprives the local players of the chance to grow in the industry, by among others giving the foreign company a monopoly.
President Museveni says he is planning to meet the people in the coffee industry over the issue. Vinci coffee is fronted by an Italian woman Enrica Pinneti, who was also given a deal to spearhead the construction of a specialized hospital at Lubowa in Wakiso, a project that has hardly taken off three years later.
This is one other reason the opponents of the coffee deal have fronted, adding that she has no track record in the coffee industry. In his State of the National Address, President Museveni admitted that he knew that Ms. Pinetti had no experience in the coffee industry, but that he was convinced that she could get investors to do it after he failed with other known processors around the world.
Following a report by Parliament’s committee on Trade last month, the parliament recommended for the termination of the agreement. Vowing to fight for the deal, President Museveni said there is no way Uganda and other African producing countries can develop from their coffee when they are exporting it raw.
He said the global coffee industry is worth more than US$400 billion, but that most of it is taken by countries that process coffee, while the producers including Uganda and giant Brazil, only take US$ 25 billion.
He said the only way for these countries is to develop a processing industry. He linked the continued export of raw materials from Africa to the new slavery and said he cannot support it because there is no exchange of value for value.
“When we de-husk, roast, grind and pack here, Uganda will get more dollars & we shall also pay higher prices to our farmers. The farmers are now cheated because the biggest beneficiaries of our coffee are the external roaster, grinders, and packers,” he said.
He appealed to the rest of the coffee-producing countries in and outside of Africa to join in the fight for value from the coffee industry. He gave an example of robusta coffee Screen 18, which is sold as green coffee after removing the skin, only attracts a 3.34 per kg, as the maximum but most farmers get just over a dollar per kilo, while those who process get as much as 12 dollars.
He says the coffee-growing world must fight this capital bleeding.
President Museveni said his fight will not stop at coffee but also agricultural products that cannot be consumed locally, as well as minerals, giving the example of the continued ban on the export of iron ore.
“Our strategy is that anything agricultural that is not consumed fresh, should be processed industrially so that it is preserved to be able to reach distant markets and also to add value to the raw materials,” he said.
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Do we not have the capacity within Uganda, from government and private sector, to support a group of Ugandan scientists, businesspeople, and economists, tasked with establishing sustainable, transparent, accountable, robust institutions to conceptualize, develop and maintain a globally competitive network of decentralized coffee processing facilities within a specific time frame?
A nation full of brilliant, enterprising, hard working patriots can’t draw up such a plan and implement it successfully without depending on an Italian of questionable caliber?
Is this the level of faith we have in ourselves as Ugandans, that we feel the need to roll in the mud before an Italian with obscure credentials and try to convince ourselves that they will achieve our national goals on our behalf?
Does this not reveal how Africans have failed to learn key historical lessons repeated over centuries and across the continent about trusting others with our resources and development, most especially those who are known to present themselves as external solution providers yet they have their own agendas and they end up deepening our problems?
Isn’t it time for us to examine our role in the recolonization of Africa, especially when we have reached the point where we ourselves appear determined to continue seducing colonizers to colonize us afresh?
Can’t we afford ourselves a bit of time and at least a chance to invite our best brains to sit down, approach and address this challenge in a sober, determined, transparent manner?
Do we not owe ourselves and our children, this vote of confidence in order to properly decolonize our minds and free ourselves from the idea of depending on others, especially the historically untrustworthy, to achieve our goals on our behalf? When will we ever begin to own our economy and own our development and own our successes?
We would achieve a lot more than any Italian, if only we believed in ourselves and invested in our capacity to achieve our own goals and most importantly, if we boldly displayed inspiring determination to decolonize our minds and liberate the minds of future generations… using such an approach, coffee processing would be just a small success story, a case study, a humble beginning, compared to what we would achieve long term in all spheres of development, and what we would inspire future generations to achieve.
We should not miss this opportunity to make a significant contribution to the decolonization and resuscitation of our weary overcolonized continent.
The lesson would be much clearer, better delivered, and properly received, if we carefully reconsidered and consciously changed course on this matter with justifications… the decision to turn around, look inward, and the resulting success will be well documented in history books, used as a case study across the continent and beyond for decades, and fondly remembered as part of a progressive and influential Pan Africanist’s legacy.