2026 Polls: Making Sense of the Shs 9 Billion Coffee Drinking Deal and the NRM Transition
By Executive Editor
About a month or so ago, Uganda witnessed yet another corruption scandal: the Office of the Prime Minister contracted Inspire Africa to teach Ugandans how to drink coffee at a cost of Shs 9 billion.
Part of that money was released and spent. In total, the Coffee Consortium wants Shs 37 billion. The Consortium is headed by Nelson Tugume of Inspire Africa. The team wants the money in this financial year to promote coffee exports.
However, divisions have arisen following the lack of accountability for what was released.
One of the members of the consortium is Jackie Arinda of Jada Coffee.
ChimpReports, an online news publication, reported on Saturday morning that Arinda says that the “consortium has lost direction and members don’t know what is going on.”
Arinda told the publication that the Consortium’s leader, Tugume, “is not accountable at all and no longer holds meetings to update members on the progress of the consortium’s work.”
While the case of lack of accountability stands, Kampala Gazette has learned that the saga is being used to shape the 2026 Presiential Polls and the transition within the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
It is important to note that the Shs 9 billion saga has been before Parliament previously.
However, it was resurrected by Daudi Kabanda (Kasambya, MP). Kabanda is linked to Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s Presidential bid. In fact, he holds a position in the MK Movement.
Kabanda, however, attempts to link the fraud to the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID). The Committee is headed by the First Son-in-Law, Odrek Rwabogo.
PACEID is a 2022 creation. While the coffee project was introduced by the OPM in the 2017–2018 financial year.
Rwabogo, like Gen. Muhoozi, reportedly has an eye on the presidency.
Sources say linking the coffee project to Rwabogo is an attempt to soil his image so that by the time Rwabogo shows interest in the top seat, he will have nothing remaining of his name.
The pair’s fate will be sealed when President Yoweri Museveni announces his retirement. Whoever will be annointed will aid the transition process and inform who contests for Presidency in the 2026 presidential polls.
