Is the multi-billion coffee deal worth it? | ON THE SPOT
The storm in Uganda’s coffee cup is brewing unrelentingly. After a withdrawal from the International Coffee Organisation, the country’s technocrats have now signed a multibillion coffee deal locking the country’s production potential to one investor. It wouldn’t be much of a problem but the investor, Enrica Penetti is yet to deliver on another large government contract for a world-class hospital in Lubowa. This gamble has forced coffee growers, traders and middlemen including a small section of civil servants to rile up against the move. But it just isn’t that government is fumbling with the sector it is also that coffee exports recorded a 22% increment, the highest Uganda has seen in over 30 years.