Various news outlets yesterday went awash with President Museveni’s futile attempts in trying to convince the NRM Members of Parliament to support the agreement of the Vinci coffee deal that gives Enrica Pinetti exclusive rights to buy, process and export all of Uganda’s coffee.
While briefing NRM party members on issues of national importance at Kololo Independence Grounds, it is said that President Museveni recieved a lot of criticism from his party members who openly denounced the deal while some swore that they wouldn't mind being expelled from the party.
They cited the deal as unfair and supporting it would make them lose popularity among their voters noting that the political scene had changed.
The deal grants the Uganda Vinci Coffee Company (UVCC) exclusive rights to buy all of Uganda’s coffee, a concession that will end in 10 years and is subject to renewal, a 10 year period free of income tax, Pay As You Earn (PAYE), Excise Duty, or even remitting NSSF contributions, 25 acres of free land in Namanve Industrial Park that is estimated at 7.3 billion shillings, cheaper electricity among others.
Commenting on the deal that has caused a public outcry, Olive reasoned that it is unfair to grant a foreigner “100 percent rights” to a sector that constitutes one of the largest sources of income to Ugandans without their say. She added that even the hospital that Pinetti was instructed to construct has never come to fruition. All this stirs up the disgruntledness.
Interestingly,The Uganda coffee Development Authority (UCDA) expressed its support for the controversial agreement between the government and the UVCC saying that it neither contravenes the coffee act nor any other laws of the country.
Reasoning that the deal gives too much power and monopoly of the product to one person, James Onen aka Fatboy said that “when you look at past shady dealings, you realize that most of these investors are just fronts for some higher political figures who front them yet in reality, they are behind these plans.”
Recently, it emerged that the agreement signed between the Government of Uganda and the UVCC, Enrica Pinetti only signed as a witness leaving the space for the owner of the company blank raising questions of who the real owner of the company is.
Olive further said that “when I was talking to Joseph Kabuleeta on The Bruch Talk Show last week about this coffee deal, he said that Pinetti is an arms dealer and is being positioned just as conduit but probably sold arms to the government which the government can't publicly disclose so they got something else to offer to her.”
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.