Kabushenga’s take on Uganda pulling out of ICO

We are having to deal with the injury of mismanagement and incompetence of bureaucrats and insolence of arrogant political response. It is this that has brought us to where we are. So where are we?

Without ICO Certificate of Origin, Uganda’s coffee has no proof that it is that.

The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) certificate has to be accepted by the International Coffee Organization (ICO) and other individual countries where our coffee goes before it can be a replacement. We should have done this ahead of the withdrawal. We have no brand ID.

We had three years to negotiate better terms ahead of the expiry of the agreement. We should have mobilized Ethiopia and Kenya so that we have a bigger voice. Instead, we cut off our nose to spite our face. Now we are alone on the outside playing the nationalism card to mask our folly…Read more