By Sam Mwesigwa
US$20 million is what stands in between two factions of Uganda’s key coffee stakeholders.
The money was reportedly meant to support the coffee-vlue addition.
However, it appears that the money has not reached the intended beneficiaries.
According to Robert Kabushenga, a large coffee farmer, US$20m was disbursed to Nelson Tugume of Inspire Coffee Africa.
“This money is meant to finance the coffee export trade,” Kabushenga explains in a post on X on Friday.
He, however, adds that the money has since ended up in a private account.
“But as some of us kept pointing out, this money has since ended up in Nelson’s private account. He has lived up to his reputation as an accomplished crook and is no longer accessible,” added Kabushenga.
“He has vanished with the money.”
Kabushenga now suggests that “This whole coffee-value-adding-story is simply a scam.”
“Clearly nothing good will ever come to us, coffee-people from Government. Time to organize ourselves privately and find solutions for our business. There is no hope!” Kabushenga said.
In 2021, Uganda exported $547M in Coffee, making it the 18th largest exporter of Coffee in the world.
