At exactly 1:39 p.m., Parliament dominated by National Resistance Movement lawmakers passed the National Coffee Amendment Bill, 2024, which will merge the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) with the Ministry of Agriculture.

The bill, which over the past month has given rise to a war of words between supporters led by President Museveni and the opposing camp, was passed after scenes of chaos that left some lawmakers hospitalized and the media prevented from covering the debates.

From the start, tension was palpable, with the roads leading to Parliament filled with security personnel. No sooner had the session begun than the sparks of what awaited us began to fly.

Heated sessions began just after the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mr. Joel Ssenyonyi, took issue with a procedural provision in the rules of procedure charging Speaker Anita Among to apologize for her alleged tribal statements made over a week ago.

He also requested that she recuse herself from overseeing any proceedings related to coffee matters and the National Coffee Amendment Bill, 2024.

“What we saw on the national channel and elsewhere were comments made by you showing that you seemed to have a particular interest in the Coffee Bill. You were exchanging words with the chief government whip and you asked him if he had the figures. This was to show that you had interests in this matter,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.

He added: “The issue of conflict of interest is very critical, as far as I am concerned, given your conduct, I believe you have an interest in this matter and you should have declared that interest and perhaps you challenge and apologize. yourself from this matter.

However, Ms Among refused to apologise. “At the outset, I would like to point out that I was quoted out of context. Anyway, this House is a House of Record, and being the custodian of the rules of procedure and being the House of Record, and if anyone feels that I have mentioned what the LoP has mentioned, I would like to urge this member to bring forward some documentary evidence and lay it on the table and once it is true that I said what he said, then I can apologize to this country and to the people who were affected. But before it is done, because it is not true, I will not do it,” Among said.

She added: “It is imperative to note that, in accordance with Standing Order 77, the Speaker must not participate in the debate, but can provide guidance to the House on the matter before it. In these circumstances, the cited rule is therefore inapplicable. I am in no way conflicted. He (Ssenyonyi) cited a bad rule, I don’t vote and I don’t debate.

“I am happy that the LoP has raised a question that I am prepared to answer and I will answer it when I address the issue of the Coffee Bill. I will give a very appropriate response to this when we discuss the Coffee Bill.

This triggered an incomprehensible outcry within the chambers, particularly from the opposition side led by Mr Ssenyonyi. In the process, Mityana Municipality MP Mr. Francis Zaake has raised fears that there is an unidentified official with a gun in the House chamber.

“There is a gun in the room. Madam President, I beg you, let the security official be checked (and see if) he does not have a weapon,” Mr. Zaake said.

Accordingly, President Among ordered that the said officer be searched. Said officer under control was just behind the President’s canopy. Mr Zaake, after making his point, returned to take his seat to find it occupied by Kilak North MP Anthony Akol.

An attempt to retake his seat by force threw Akol into a fit of rage and he lashed out at Zaake with his fists, sending the House into a brawl and the evacuation of the Speaker, which suspended the House for 30 minutes.

Mr Zaake was evacuated from the rooms, rushed into the ambulance before being transported to St Francis Hospital in Nsambya, Makindye Division. Upon her return, Ms Among suspended 12 MPs for misconduct and banned them from the precincts of Parliament for three consecutive sittings.

They include Anthony Akol (Kilak North), Wakayima Musoke (Nansana Municipality), Aloysius Mukasa (Rubaga South), Charles Tebandeke (Bbale) and Isaiah Ssasaga (Budadriri East).

Others are Francis Zaake (Mityana Municipality), Asinansi Nyakato (Hoima Town MP), Derrick Nyeko (Makindye East), Frank Kabuye (Kassanda South), Ronald Evan Kanyike (Bukoto East), Susan Mugabi (District MP of Buvuma) and Shamim. Malende (Woman from Kampala).

At that point, there was a power outage in the House, with live feeds cut off and reporters locked in a basement conference room.

Sources say some of the 12 lawmakers were forcibly removed and others beaten.

“Members were beaten, brutalized, we were all pushed around like little children in our own home. They were walking on these chairs, pushing them and grabbing a few deputies while beating them. Our colleagues have been attacked, including women, by men we do not know, they are not Parliament staff, they do not belong to the office of the Sergeant at Arms, they are hooligans and ” kanyamas” who came in, with a mission, to beat up the MPs,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.

Following the chaos and what they described as abuse of their colleagues, opposition lawmakers, except for a few, chose to boycott the session, leaving NRM lawmakers to process and vote in favor of the bill.

The National Coffee Amendment Bill, 2024, after the President’s approval and following a three-year transition period, will return the operations of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) to the Ministry of Agriculture .

The UCDA has been the lead agency in the conduct of coffee production and trade, including regulating all on-farm and off-farm activities in the coffee value chain, promoting and supervising coffee quality throughout the value chain, supporting research and development, promoting production. and improve coffee marketing to optimize the income of coffee stakeholders in the country.

It also plays a central role in monitoring coffee quality to ensure compliance with export contracts and international food safety standards. “The Committee was informed that the coffee sub-sector contributes between 7 and 22 percent to the country’s GDP.

It employs around 12.5 million people across the coffee value chain (directly and indirectly). “In the 2023/2024 financial year, coffee contributed approximately 55.5 percent to agricultural exports.

The Committee is of the view that the mandate of UCDA, given that it is a going concern as it promotes one of our major sources of export revenue which has a multiplier effect in the “The entire economy is best served by the Model agency in the meantime, as the Department strengthens its capacity to transparently manage the mandate of the UCDA,” the Committee reported. Despite approving the merger, the Committee argued that: Immediate integration of UCDA into MAAIF risks compromising research quality and efforts and may lead to information asymmetry. It would also put critical functions at risk, negatively impacting Uganda’s coffee exports and competitiveness.

To avoid this, Parliament mandated the Minister to provide biannual reports on the Department’s progress towards achieving the capacity required to undertake the UCDA mandate.

In the new law, the Minister of Agriculture was given a regulatory role, tasked among other things with formulating policies to develop a strategy to promote the cultivation of recommended types and varieties of coffee in Uganda. Article 41 of the bill also mandates the ministry to legally promote coffee consumption at the local level.

Budadiri East legislator Nandala Mafabi: “We want the ministry to be the advertising agency for coffee producers. »

Minister of Agriculture, Frank Tumwebaze: “Mine is to register a vote of appreciation and pledge our support to ensure that the coffee value chain is developed to ensure that our exports continue to have access to the international market. We will ensure that our laboratories continue to be fully accredited. With your support, we will ensure that our research institutes continue to produce the best varieties and that our coffee profile as a country continues to improve.

The President of the Agriculture Committee, Ms. Agnes Linda Puma, (MP for Lira Woman: “I am pleased that we have reached a positive conclusion and that we support the ministry. As a committee, we will work together (with the Ministry of Agriculture) to consolidate the effort accomplished.

“The community is concerned that promotion of the coffee sector is decreasing and this helps us create some accountability, to ensure that the minister reports regularly to Parliament. This will reassure the community.

Joël Ssenyonyi, leader of the opposition:

“We don’t really know if it was such a setup because everything that happened happened the way it happened. From the start, as soon as we arrived at Parliament, the situation was different. There was a heavy deployment of security, those in uniform and those not in uniform, and MPs even had difficulty accessing Parliament, the premises of Parliament. After turning off the lights, they cut the network. There was no connectivity. And then we saw the Kanyama hooligans in civilian clothes, in vests, in tight shirts.

Obviously, the ones from Kanyama, we don’t know where they got them. They entered the rooms, they started to push us, to beat people, then they arrested some deputies. Taking them very brutally out of their house. And as we asked, who are you? What are you doing here? They jostled us, jostled everyone. And clearly, it is on the instructions of the President of Parliament.