By Andrew Cohen Amvesi
ARUA
West Nile Tobacco Farmers stormed Desert Breeze hotel in Arua city where the State Minister of Finance in charge of General Duties, Henry Musasizi was addressing local leaders in a meeting organized by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) early this week.
Musasizi was forced to squeeze sometime shortly after the URA meeting to talk to the farmers who were demanding answers about the delay by the government to compensate them for the tobacco sold to Continental Tobacco Company in 2018.
According to the records presented by Christopher Adia, the chairperson of the West Nile Cooperative Union Limited, a total of 1,500 farmers sold their tobacco worth shs9.7billion to Continental Tobacco Company which later stopped its operations in the country.
He said the government had committed to pay the money but since then, no farmer in West Nile has received any single coin.
Adia noted that instead, the government only compensated the tobacco farmers in Bunyoro sub-region, leaving their West Nile counterparts empty handed up to now.
“Hon. Minister, we were told that you are coming here and that is why we have also come in this big numbers to get answers about our money from you,” Adia requested.
Musasizi late gave some hope to tobacco farmers in the West Nile sub-region about their long-awaited money.
Musasizi said the concern being raised by the farmers was first presented to them by Gen. Moses Ali, the Second Deputy Prime Minister together with the MPs from the region.
“On top of what brought me here to talk to the stakeholders about the challenges URA has especially to comfort you for the people who were killed in the scuffle between URA and some people from here, your MPs here briefed me about this issue of compensation of the tobacco farmers. It is a matter I know about and I want to apologize that it has taken this far because we were supposed to pay you in the financial year 2023/2024 but when I asked our office in Kampala, they have told me that without fail, we shall have this money in the budget for financial year 2024/2025,” Musasizi promised.
Musasizi said unfortunately, where they are now, they can’t do further supplementary budget because the financial year is ending in June. He observed that they are now putting all the items like the tobacco compensation demand in the coming financial year budget.
“I, therefore, would like to appeal to you to be patient with us. I was hearing your matter from boardrooms but now I have seen you people. I have seen the need; I have seen the problem and I have seen the challenge with my two eyes. It is true we paid Bunyoro and we shall also pay you. The fact that we paid Bunyoro is now a bigger justification because if we don’t pay you and you keep hearing that we have paid others, you will not be happy. Therefore, let me go back and do my paperwork and we shall come back here with this money and ask you for votes for the movement (NRM),” Musasizi said.
Earlier in October 2021, the aggrieved tobacco farmers in West Nile took to the streets to protest against the continued delay to compensate them.
Carrying placards with different inscriptions including ‘Our friends are dying of stress,’ the farmers kept on chanting ‘we want our tobacco money’ slogan as they matched to the Continental Tobacco Company offices at Wandi trading center in Katrini Sub County, Terego District where they forced their way through the gate of the Union to the company’s office which is housed within the cooperative premises.
At that time, Luiji Bayo, one of the affected farmers said they have waited for so long, adding that time has come for them to push the government of Uganda to pay them.
Justo Ezati, another farmer said it has become hard for him to pay his children’s school fees because his shs22m has remained with Continental Tobacco Company.
Madelena Ozuru, a widow who is taking care of her 9 children said the company has made life very hard for her since 2018 when she sold her tobacco.
“I am demanding shs1.4m from Continental Tobacco Company. I intended to use this money for feeding my children and also buying clothes for them, but since then, the company doesn’t think of paying us thus leaving me to suffer with my family. I’m requesting President Museveni to intervene in this matter so that we can get paid,” Ozuru appealed.
