The Monday cabinet meeting at State House was stormy as section of Ministers grumbled over the continued shelving of legalization of medical marijuana production in the country.
It’s been four sittings in a row since the State Minister of Health Robinah Nabbanja assured the public that the process of permitting cannabis growth in Uganda would be expedited to allow interested companies engage in the production.
However, the progress has since stalled following what a cabinet sub committee termed as lack of proper guidelines before authorizing the growth.
Over 100 firms applied for government permits to grow and export medical marijuana to South Africa, Israel, UK, Germany, Canada and US.
However, for close to a year, a committee Prime led by Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Health minister Dr. Ruth Aceng, Trade and Industry Minister Amelia Kyambadde, Matia Kasaija of Finance, Agriculture’s Vincent Ssempijja, Internal Affairs Minister Gen. Jeje Odongo and other government agencies like National Drug Authority (NDA) has had several meetings ending up in a stalemate.
Cabinet is stuck with policies like who to award the permit as the country continues to lose revenue amounting to $345 billion in the global market for the drug.
What however, raises questions remains the two companies which are freely dealing in marijuana, a move seen as locking out local investors from engaging in the business.
The two only companies are Industrial Hemp (U) Ltd and Together Pharma Ltd which are linked to high- ranking officials in government.
But on Monday, Feb 2, a section of Ministers tasked Prime Minister to give an update on the marijuana plans.
A source privy to details of this stormy sitting revealed that, the enraged ministers were tired of waiting for results on cannabis which were forthcoming.
“As a result they demanded answers which they couldn’t be given,” said a source.
Some politicians in the meeting queried reports in media which suggested that marijuana project belonged to the army and they wanted to know why.
“We were told that this big project belongs to Ministry of Defence,” a powerful Minister to quoted to have asked.
The answers were that marijuana is manned by the Defence wing of every nation since there are possibilities that the plant could be abused.
The explanation wasn’t sufficient enough to convince the irate politicians.
We understand that in what can be termed as a well calculated move to frustrate local companies, cabinet has been guided by “external forces” to lock out local firms claiming that they can’t raise proposed shs 22.4 billion compelling government to invite foreign companies to take over the industry.
But the local firms deliberately locked out have expressed readiness to pay the required stake to participate in the business but in vain.
