In a rare show of resolve, the Ugandan parliament this week trashed a controversial deal which assigned a mystery company sole rights to market the country’s coffee. First entered into in 2015, the deal only became public a couple of months ago, as the executive tried to resuscitate it following non-performance.
In addition to free land, water, electricity and a monopoly on marketing premium grade coffee, the agreement between the government of Uganda and Uganda Vinci Coffee Ltd had also offered the company generous concessions, including a 10-year holiday on corporation tax, value added tax, immunity from contributing to and remitting employees social security contributions as well as their pay-as-you-earn tax deductions. The company would also have the first call on all the coffee crop, have the right to license any other exporters, set the prices for coffee across the domestic value chain and set up a soluble coffee plant.
