By Najib Mulema
As a leading coffee exporting country in Africa, Uganda for the past years has improvised several means to make sure that the quality of coffee reaches the required standards to compete favourably on the international market.
One of the means was to put in place the Uganda Electronic Single Window System (UESW) which is being led by Ministry of Trade and implemented by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
UESW is a paperless system that simplifies submission and processing of trade information for export and imports.
During a press briefing at Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) offices in Kampala on Thursday, coffee stakeholders praised the efficiency of the system and thanked URA for introducing such a great venture.
Michael Nuwagaba from UGACOF Limited, one of the leading coffee exporting companies, testified that UEWS has done wonders for them ever since they started using it.
He said the system is time-saving and transparent since it has no shortcuts which factors have helped to overcome the problem of bureaucracy.
Unlike in the past when the export process involved a lot of uncertainties, Nuwagaba said with UESW, the process is predetermined thus making their work easy.
Mutebi Tobias William, the URA Customs Supervisor as well as UESW Project Manager revealed that since the implementation UESW, it’s no longer possible to export coffee consignment without a valid permit.
On the other hand, Dr. Emmanuel Iyamulemye Niyibigira, the Managing Director of UCDA revealed that coffee brings over US$500,000 into the country and as farmers continue to embrace the paperless system, quality products are assured thus increment in the country’s revenue.
Apparently, UESW has already registered 17978 quality certificates.
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