You may remember an article Bartalks wrote last November which documented the spat between Uganda and the ICO. Now, Uganda announced their departure from the organisation, without citing any reason.
Dr Emmanuel Lyamuleme Niyibigira, the managing director of Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) wrote to the ICO to notify them of the decision not to extend the agreement beyond the date of 1 February 2022.
We would like to notify the Depositary that the government of Uganda will not join the extension of the ICA (International Coffee Agreement) 2007 beyond February 1, 2022. – Uganda Coffee Development Authority
In signing off, Dr Niyibigira requests the ICO writes to the other members to inform them of the decision, which is a standard procedure. We have attached the letter below.
The move did not go over well internally among the Trade Unions or Coffee Associations, with some comments referring to the organisation as ‘clueless keyboard warriors’.
There are also some reports that the letter was sent without the prior notice or approval of the Board, and took the government by surprise.
