“MPs have tasked officials from the Office of the Prime (OPM) to explain how Shs9.6Bn was spent on training youths on how to drink coffee in Uganda, after the Auditor General revealed that some of the coffee shops established in Gulu, Lira, Mbale during this campaign are non-existent” (…) “The contract to train youths on how to drink coffee was awarded to Inspire Africa (U) Limited where; Shs3.831Bn was to train farmers on the production of coffee, Shs1.906Bn train youths on how to drink coffee, training in financial literacy and business management skills cost Shs2.652Bn while the project administration cost Shs1.271Bn, thus bringing the total to Shs9.662Bn” (ParliamentWatch, 13.07.2023).
“The young people in Uganda need to participate in the coffee economy and one of the ways the young people told us, especially those in the city they would like to sell coffee and other merchandise but coffee had to be one of the items we promote. So, we needed to have partners that are able and working in the coffee industry to do this” – Robert Limlim, Director, Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP) at OPM (ParliamentWatch, 13.07.2023).
Yesterday, the 11th Parliament unearthed another scandal and “missing funds”. The state has spent funds on non-existent coffee shops. The Inspire Africa Limited, which is based at Muwafu Road, Minister’s Village, Ntinda, Kampala. They are both a company, which is supposed to inspire people to drink coffee and another one that sells coffee directly.
They have been in the press a few years back and is maybe in connection to this…
“Coffee City, a subsidiary of Inspire Africa Coffee in partnership with the Young Africa Works Program and the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) have launched a two-year project aimed at setting up mobile coffee shops and booths around the country” (Amon Katungulu – ‘Inspire Africa partners with PSFU to set up mobile coffee shops around Uganda’ 12.08.2021).
The Inspire Africa Company on its page says it held bootcamps in Lira and in Gulu, but that is back to 2018. These activities date back then and isn’t in the Financial Year in question. While the 9.6 billion shillings was spent on training youth to drink coffee much later.
We can see by headlines in other press that the Inspire Africa Limited connected with others back in 2021 and was supposed to end in 2023. Which could be what is the trouble now. As there was a plan to set up mobile coffee shops, but the 9.6 billion shillings went nowhere. There are no coffee shops and very little training or “educational” enterprises, which was the reason for the fund to begin with.
Alas, this just shows how the state can mismanage funds and spend money on reckless “development projects”. We can all see what is at play here and we can question the reasons for doing so. The Office of the Prime Minister and their stakeholders should take accountability and be transparent about this. Because, this is a bitter cup of coffee. This isn’t helping the farmers or the ones trading the beans. Neither is this changing the youth in regard to drinking coffee…
This here story will not end here, as there will be more twists and turns. There are billions of shillings spent on it and we know there will questions about this. The OPM and others cannot deflect or not take blame here. This is a wastage of funds, and nothing was delivered. We only got ghosts and fake promises. Peace.
MinBane 