Ssenyonyi Challenges Museveni on Coffee Claims and Government Expenditure 

During a press address at Parliament on Tuesday, Ssenyonyi criticized Museveni for alleging that the opposition defends UCDA because they are the main beneficiaries of its coffee seedling distribution. “General Museveni made claims that UCDA gives coffee links only to opposition MPs, suggesting that this is why we defend it. This is pure propaganda,” Ssenyonyi remarked. He pointed out that even National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs had initially opposed the government’s push to dissolve UCDA, arguing that the bill to dismantle it had faced bipartisan resistance.

Ssenyonyi dismissed the President’s assertions, stating, “Parliament, with its NRM majority, had initially thrown out this bill. So what exactly is he saying? He called his NRM MPs, threatened them, intimidated them, but he has no authority over us in the opposition.”

The Leader of the Opposition demanded that President Museveni provide evidence to substantiate his allegations. “If UCDA has been giving coffee seedlings to opposition members, where is the proof? Is he suggesting that even NRM MPs who defended UCDA are now opposition?” Ssenyonyi questioned.

He further criticized the President for not consulting his advisors who were against the rationalization of UCDA. “Why didn’t he invite senior presidential adviser Dr. Ezra Suruma, who has been advising against dismantling UCDA? Instead, he chose to paint a picture that everyone is in agreement, which is far from the truth.”

Despite the ongoing political tussle, Ssenyonyi urged Ugandan farmers not to be discouraged from growing coffee. He emphasized that the fight for coffee sector reforms is ongoing. “The government may want to demobilize farmers, but we encourage Ugandans across all regions to grow even more coffee. This fight is far from over,” he asserted, highlighting the long-term economic importance of coffee as a cash crop.

Ssenyonyi also turned his focus to the broader issue of government spending, criticizing the proliferation of specialized units under the State House. He argued that many of these entities, such as the State House Health Monitoring Unit and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, duplicate the functions of established ministries and agencies, thereby wasting taxpayers’ money.

Ssenyonyi said, “If you think the IGG is not doing her job in fighting corruption, go and bring someone who will do it instead of creating a parallel unit. He urged for these units to be dissolved, with their functions returned to the appropriate ministries. The phrase “Let’s be serious with taxpayer dollars” in pursuit of the quote All these unnecessary units should be dissolved, he added.

Ssenyonyi pointed out some of what he called wasteful public spending by the government, including the issuing of bail-outs to failing private enterprises. He mentioned the 260 billion shilling bailout of Roko Construction and billions to several other private entities. Ssenyonyi said, “These donations to private companies should end if we are intent on saving taxpayer dollars.

He stressed the importance of combating corruption more effectively since Uganda loses over 10 trillion shillings annually because of it. He said the broad anti-corruption campaign, “if Gen Museveni is really serious about reducing wasteful expenditure.

He called for an even wider economic struggle beyond coffee, saying, “We need other cash crops like cotton, vanilla and sugar cane to resurface. He added: “Look at sugarcane prices in Eastern Uganda, they have dropped from 250,000 shillings per ton to ONLY 50,000. He said these do not fall under the category of an economic war, “this is for our farmers and agriculture-related matters”.

Opposition leaders said that the fight to justify government spending and create development opportunities was not over. “The fight is on. Ssenyonyi vowed: “We will not relent until we have public funds put where they are supposed to be and corruption weeded out.

In the meantime, Ssenyonyi confirmed that their struggle is still on