President Museveni yesterday met selected stakeholders from the coffee sub-sector to discuss the fate of the impugned coffee deal with Uganda Vinci Coffee Company (UVCC) Limited.

On February 10, Finance minister Matia Kasaijja signed an agreement with the UVCC to process Uganda’s coffee beans.

Ms Enrica Pinetti, the chairperson of UVCC, who witnessed the signing of the deal that was red-flagged by the parliamentary Trade committee on May 18, did not attend yesterday’s meeting which sources described as “highly confidential” but her team attended.

However, Mr Kasaija and Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, who initially cleared the coffee deal before Parliament’s Committee on Trade terminated it, were at the State House Entebbe for yesterday’s meeting.

Sources, who attended the meeting, said Mr Kiwanuka and Mr Moses Byaruhanga, the senior presidential advisor on political affairs, were tasked with finding a way to improve the whole coffee value chain.

This came after President Museveni shared with the stakeholders how best to add value to Uganda’s coffee beans.

Mr Museveni has made no secret of the government’s intention to venture into the lucrative business of exporting processed coffee.