Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Agriculture Committee are urging the government to abandon its plans to merge the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) with the Ministry of Agriculture. The committee is set to meet with President Yoweri Museveni at State House to discuss the matter.
Kimanya Kabonera MP, Dr. Abed Bwanika, emphasizes that the importance of coffee to the national economy is too significant to be jeopardized by such a merger. He argues that it would undermine specialized efforts in coffee management and hinder the sector’s progress.
Bwanika’s comments come in response to the government’s renewed push to complete the rationalization and merger of its agencies as part of a cost-saving initiative and to prevent the duplication of roles within ministries, departments, and agencies.
“The most important loss we are going to have when we rationalize UCDA, is we are going to lose market because the authority is an accredited body by international bodies. When we rationalize UCDA, we are going to lose these accreditations,” he said.
Bwanika insists that merging the Coffee Development Authority would be detrimental to the coffee sector, which is one of the nation’s top revenue-generating crops.
