Ugandan officials from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) have been tasked to explain how $2.6m (£2m) was used on training youth “on how to drink coffee” among other things, according to a parliamentary watchdog.
In a statement on Twitter, the NGO Parliament Watch said that the auditor general noted a number of the coffee shops listed as part of the campaign did not exist.
The contract was broken down into four parts:
- Training farmers on the production of coffee
- Training youth on how to drink coffee
- Providing financial literacy and business management skills
- General project administration costs
Director at OPM, Robert Limlim, defended the high costs the campaign saying it was about education and the money was spent on buying coffee equipment as well as bringing the youth into the coffee economy.
Uganda is one of Africa’s major coffee exporting countries, having shipped 5.7 million bags, worth $840m (£641m), in the 12-month period from June 2022, according to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority.