KAMPALA- Members of parliament on the three parliamentary committees of national economy, finance and agriculture have agreed with president Museveni that Uganda Coffee Development Authority shouldn’t be merged in the ministry of agriculture and that Dairy Development Authority be merged opposed to some other opposition MPs sitting on the same committees.
Yesterday the MPs sitting on these committees set off to Entebbe State House to seek advice from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on whether Uganda coffee development authority can be merged in its mother ministry of agriculture in the ongoing merger of departments and gov’t agencies.
It should be remembered, In April, Parliament received 23 more Bills that were introduced by the Executive as part of government efforts to repeal and amend provisions in the law to enforce the Rationalization of Government Agencies and Public Expenditure (RAPEX).
However, during debate on the Bill, MPs resisted the merger of UCDA into the ministry of Agriculture noting that coffee needs an independent body to manage it but not the ministry of agriculture.
The NRM caucus also agreed with parliament that Bills on Uganda’s coffee development authority, Dairy Development Authority and Cotton Development Authority shouldn’t be merged and the three Bills were passed into Law independently however president Museveni declined to sign them into law.
President Museveni noted that there were mistakes done by parliament while scrutinizing those 3 Bills he directed parliament to re-scrutinize them.
Speaking to the media Bataringaya Basil Rwankwene, MP Kashari North (Mabarara District) says president agreed with the MPs that Dairy Development Authority be merged into the ministry of Agriculture because it has been incompetent since inception.
Cue in………….Bataringaya on UCDA
Bataringaya says the MPs also agreed with President that Coffee Development Authority is not merged but after enacting the Law it will be implemented after three years when all the challenges in coffee have been addressed.
Cue in………….Basil on DDA
Kimanya-Kabanero County MP (Masaka District) Dr. Abed Bwanika says DDA (Dairy Development Authority) is opposed to the merging of these sectors into the Ministry of Agriculture saying all these agencies should be independent to help in eradicating poverty.
Cue in…………Bwanika on UCDA
