A vocal member of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), Frank Mwesigye, has called for investigations into spending linked to Uganda’s coffee promotion activities, questioning reports that approximately $1 million (about Shs3.7 billion) will be spent to bring American singer and actor Tyrese Gibson to Uganda as part of efforts to market Ugandan coffee.
Mwesigye via his X (formerly Twitter) handle argued that while national debate has in recent months focused heavily on controversies surrounding former Speaker Anita Among, other areas involving public resources should attract similar public scrutiny.
His remarks targeted businessman Nelson Tugume and activities associated with promoting Ugandan coffee through international campaigns and events.
According to Mwesigye, spending such sums on celebrity driven promotion raises broader questions about value for money and whether public investments are generating direct benefits for ordinary Ugandans and coffee farmers.
“It seems our attention has been heavily focused on Anita Among while ignoring other serious cases of mismanagement of public funds,” Mwesigye said.
He questioned the reported decision to allocate $1 million toward hosting Tyrese Gibson.
“How exactly does this faded singer and actor promote our coffee? How many Ugandans even know his songs or movies?” Mwesigye asked.
He added,“Why can’t we empower our own local artists to become ambassadors of Ugandan coffee instead of spending huge sums on foreign celebrities?”
Mwesigye further called for an urgent review of coffee promotional activities, arguing that every investment linked to value addition should be subjected to measurable outcomes.
“These coffee marathon activities should be urgently investigated because we are losing a lot of money on things that add little or no value to ordinary Ugandans,” he said.
He also questioned whether Uganda’s coffee value addition ambitions were being implemented in line with the original objectives presented to the government and taxpayers.
Mwesigye argued that Uganda already has hundreds of coffee brands producing ground coffee and claimed the public investment case had largely been built around establishing large scale instant coffee processing and export capacity.
His comments come against the backdrop of government backed investment into the Inspire Africa Coffee project in Rwashamaire, Ntungamo District, which has been presented as one of Uganda’s flagship industrialisation and value addition projects.
Government previously disclosed support amounting to approximately Shs179 billion toward the development of the coffee processing facility through financing arrangements and related interventions intended to accelerate industrial growth and export earnings.
Officials have repeatedly defended the investment, saying the project was designed to transform Uganda from a major exporter of raw coffee into a producer of finished coffee products with higher returns. The factory was projected to produce instant coffee, roasted coffee, drip coffee, energy drinks and other coffee based products for regional and international markets.
President Museveni has in previous engagements described coffee value addition as central to Uganda’s long term strategy of increasing export income and reducing dependence on raw commodity exports.
However, the project has also attracted criticism and public debate.
Opponents and some oversight voices previously questioned the scale of public support extended to a privately associated project and sought greater clarity on governance arrangements, expected returns and timelines for achieving production targets.
Questions were also raised in public discourse over whether the investment model offered sufficient guarantees that taxpayers would realise long term benefits through exports, employment creation and industrial expansion.
Government and project promoters have maintained that the investment should be assessed over the long term, arguing that industrial projects of such scale require time before full production and export targets are realised.
