By Mulengera Reporters
FDC Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi has demanded for a public meeting with Gen YK Museveni, the President of Uganda, in order to explain to him why his stand on Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) rationalization is wrong and will destroy his politics and simultaneously plunge the country in total chaos.
In an online interview with renowned public intellectual Robert Kabushenga, Nandala said its wrong for Gen Museveni to presume he knows everything about everything and that nobody else has wisdom in Uganda apart from himself. Nandala, who is a major stakeholder because he is a coffee farmer and long-serving Chairman for Bugisu Cooperative Union (BCU), also named other equally important actors who he thinks have to be part of that meeting.
He enumerated these must-attendees to include the Katikkiro of Buganda Charles Peter Mayiga, Prof Lwanga Lunyigo, Dr. Ezra Suruma, Robert Kabushenga, Prof Kibooma, Mzee Musundi and Speaker Anita Among among others. That the leadership of Bugisu and that of Buganda Kingdom should be asked to identify senior citizens who are also coffee farmers to come and be part of that meeting. He suggested Serena Hotel being the venue to avoid being misunderstood as politicizing the same if it were to be held at State House.
Nandala said there is need to deescalate tensions about the coffee bill and holding such a meeting, which can part of the broader consultations for coffee sector-related reforms, would be a starting point towards de-escalation. He said he had already reached out to Speaker Among and asked her to coordinate and get the President to create time to have that meeting which must be held under very transparent circumstances.
He added that if this very polarizing coffee debate isn’t handled properly, Gen Museveni risks being misunderstood to be selfishly against UCDA in order to advantage his family members and create opportunity for deal-makers from Ntungamo, his birthplace, like Inspire Africa Coffee’s Nelson Tugume. Nandala predicts that mishandling the coffee issue could incite ordinary Ugandans into political protests which could make the country totally ungovernable for Gen Museveni.
He says time has come for Gen Museveni to realize and publicly admit he can’t be the only one who knows what is right at all times and best for Uganda, a country which is home to more than 46m people. That there are many leaders who know even better and even love Uganda more than the President himself. Nandala demonstrated why he thinks he is among those knowledgeable and well-meaning Ugandans.
He said that people like Ezra Suruma don’t only love Uganda but they have also demonstrated clarity and foresight on many other things before. That the fact that Dr. Suruma was right on the issue of privatization of especially Uganda Commercial Bank (which Museveni is now fidgeting to restart through strengthening PostBank) is reason why the veteran leader from Rwakitura should be more remorseful, humble towards him and accommodative of his views on especially the need to shield Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) as opposed to collapsing it back to MAAIF. Suruma this very week voiced his opposition demanding that UCDA ought to be strengthened as opposed to winding it up.
Nandala says that, though Gen Museveni may overlook them and think they are nothing, people like himself are currently right on the issue of shielding UCDA as was the case with the privatization of Uganda Airlines which he says he opposed in the early 2000s only to be proved right when the same Museveni government restarted it a few years ago.
Nandala says that countries like India; China and Bangladesh which rejected privatization in its entirety are today much better off with more resilient economies than Uganda whose President single-handedly insisted on privatizing everything. He also wondered how Museveni can be proud being President of a country which doesn’t have a national insurance company yet NIC had been there only to be dismantled and sold off by the very NRA/M government under Museveni.
He demanded to know why the past governments like Obote’s had Coffee Marketing Board to market the country’s coffee even when the Ministry of Agriculture was there. He described MAAIF as too inept to manage the certification and marketing of Uganda’s coffee the way UCDA has been doing. He described Museveni as a leader who hates genuine advice and prefers to surround himself with sycophants who end up lying to him including scaring him that all political leaders (especially MPs) defending UCDA are doing it because they have been bribed by the Authority’s top leadership.
Nandala explained that exporting and selling Uganda’s coffee and getting the same readily accepted on the international market has been easy because of UCDA’s good reputation as an accredited regulator. He said that this accreditation process alone, which only UCDA has, will take MAAIF not less than 10 years to acquire yet without it, the international market won’t easily or readily accept coffee from Uganda as good and of globally comparable quality standards. He said even when it’s very good, their Arabica coffee from Bugisu is easily accepted by the market as of good quality because it carries UCDA certification logo.
He said there is a lot Museveni doesn’t know about the coffee value chain and marketing of the same which he can only become privy to if he humbles himself and listen to people like him and others like Katikkiro Mayiga who represents millions of coffee farmers in Buganda, many of whose coffee success stories have been amplified through Buganda Kingdom’s emwanyi terimba campaign or initiative. Nandala said the President must realize that there are people like him (Nandala) who have become too rich through coffee to the extent that they can’t be bought off anymore by entities like UCDA.
He also advised that the leadership at Parliament avoids rushing the new coffee bill since there is enough time of up to 3 years which the government is granting UCDA. He said there is no need to rush otherwise Gen Museveni will continue being misunderstood as if he isn’t acting in good faith. He added there is need for prolonged consultation involving all stakeholders. Nandala added that he won’t mind being misunderstood by fellow leaders in opposition who might construe his insistence to meet Gen Museveni as an attempt at fortune-hunting or even selfish deal-making.
Sounding more like DP’s Norbert Mao, Nandala Mafabi said he is ready to engage Museveni for the sake of Uganda’s peace, stability, continuity and prosperity. He described himself as a great brain that could help turn around the country’s economy once given the platform to contribute and get involved.
Nandala claimed that Uganda’s economy would be very far if Museveni wasn’t deliberately surrounding himself with corrupt fearful people who lack guts to look him in the eye and give him genuine advice. He said he was available and more than ready to advise the man from Rwakitura on how to safely back off and walk away from the controversy that has resulted from the coffee debate and at the same time shield his family against being falsely accused.
Nandala said there is no need to scrap or rationalize UCDA because it’s not among those parasite institutions which the President has been complaining about. He demonstrated how UCDA annually generates NTR of Shs60bn and only uses Shs20bn allowing the remaining Shs40bn to come to the treasury. The former PAC chairman also had no kind words for Inspire Africa Coffee’s CEO Nelson Tugume who he castigated as corrupt and one of the people duping and misadvising the President on the coffee issue. He vowed to use the upcoming meeting, Speaker Among is supposed to be organizing, to ask the President about Tugume’s Net Present Value.
Nandala Mafabi said that Robert Kabushenga, who rejected his claim that Museveni is a well-intentioned President who only fails to make prudent decisions because he is misadvised, must be part of the coffee meeting they are going for because he speaks good English (allegedly learned from Mbale SS) and is a diplomatic negotiator capable of getting the President change his mind and views about UCDA. He is also a coffee farmer based in Namayumba Wakiso district.
During the same Kabushenga discussion, the unusually very eloquent Nandala Mafabi commended Pastor Joseph Sserwadda for ending his fence-sitting status and beginning to speak the uncomfortable truths to the powers that be. Demanding that other elders and nonpolitical leaders emulate Dr. Sserwadda and begin telling government the bitter truths, Nandala Mafabi castigated mafia actors who have been making phone calls threatening to harm the flamboyant preacher from Kabaka’s County of Buddu/Masaka. Sserwadda recently trended when a video of him emerged online calling on God to unmask and cause the immediate death of all mafia actors wanting to deprive coffee farmers. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at [email protected]).
