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Abstract
This article argues that the recklessness and extractive policies of Amin's regime aggravated the failures of the state coffee monopoly marketing system, and highlights the responses by different actors at the production and marketing levels. As the “economic war” escalated and the resource base contracted, the regime was increasingly extractive of the coffee resource. Meanwhile, the regime's recklessness boomeranged with tightening international embargoes that had adverse repercussions on the state marketing channel. Consequently, coffee marketing became a contested arena between the state versus the differently positioned actors and producers. Amidst monopoly marketing failures, extractive policies and fluctuating international price trends, the article highlights producer's response through declining coffee production. With the windfall coffee booms, the differently positioned actors strove to sell the coffee through the “illegal” parallel coffee smuggling (magendo), which became dominant. The article explores the modus operandi and impact of magendo on coffee producers, and its subsequent decline.
Acknowledgements
My gratitude to the Fulbright programme, which enabled me to publish this article. My commendation to Mt Holyoke College and Prof. Holly Hanson for hosting me as a senior Fulbright Scholar. My appreciation to Prof. Derek Peterson and the University of Michigan for the workshop on the Amin era from which this article was developed.
Notes
1. Until 1969, some private exporters were allowed to sell on the “free” side of the market (The Coffee Act, 1963: 1964: 3927, sect.46); Asiimwe, The Impact.
2. Green, “Magendo.”
3. Kasfir, “State, Magendo,” 84–103.
4. Kasfir, “State, Magendo,”, 96–7.
5. Southall, “General Amin,” 1975; Hansen, “Ethnicity,” 1977; Nayenga, “Myths and Realities,” 128; Green, “Magendo”; Jφrgensen, Uganda; Mamdani, Imperialism; Omara-Otunnu, Politics and the Military, 123; Mudoola, Religion, Ethnicity.
6. See Brett, “Problems of Co-operative Development”; Young et al., Cooperatives, 20; Bunker, Peasants; Vincent, “Rural Competition”; Asiimwe, The Impact.
7. Asiimwe, The Impact.
8. Bunker, Peasants.
9. Amin, “Speech on the Occasion of Opening Uganda Farmers’ Forum.”
10. The Coffee Marketing Act (Amendment) Decree 19, 1977, Section 3 (2), 103.
11. See Jφrgensen, Uganda, 269ff., 278 and 306.
12. Ugandan Government (UG), “The Commission of Inquiry into the Disappearances of Persons.”
13. Most of Amin's regime operatives had little formal education. Such often mocked the elite by pejoratively referring to them as the “actually” (the educated), or boasted of ignorance nasoma wa? (which school did I attend? – (yet I can do the job or yet I have wealth)).
14. Retired employee CMB, 1967–98, interviewed, August 13, 1998.
15. In a note to the Board Secretary, the CMB Assistant Secretary/Personnel complained about “behind-door” recruitment (CMB, January 15, 1979).
16. CMB, Labour Welfare Officer to the Production Manager, Memorandum.
17. See UNCA et al., Memorandum. After the 1966/67 UPC/Buganda political imbroglio, Obote pursued policies aimed at undermining Buganda's entrepreneurship and the dominant coffee sector. Asiimwe, The Impact.
18. UNCA et al., Memorandum.
19. CMB, “Marketing of Coffee in Uganda,” 7.
20. Kyamulesire, A History, 33.
21. UG, The Coffee Marketing Act (Amendment) Decree.
22. Young et al., Cooperatives, 93.
23. See Kyamulesire, A History, 36; Commonwealth Team of Experts, The Rehabilitation, vol. 1, 56.
24. See UG, The Co-operative Societies Act.
25. Ochieng, “Economic Stabilisation,” 230.
26. See Kyamulesire, A History, 35.
27. Young et al., Cooperatives, 108–9.
28. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 29.
29. CMB, “Contribution to the Presidential Speech,” 2.
30. BOU converted dollar receipts of CMB earnings on the overvalued official exchange rate, thus realised a surplus that was transferred to government as export tax revenue, hence the indirect taxation of coffee. Additionally, coffee producer prices were fixed on the basis of the overvalued official exchange rate. UNDP-World Bank, 1990; Asiimwe, “Marketing Strategies,” 58.
31. Amin, “Speech on the Occasion of Opening Uganda Farmers’ Forum.”
32. Economic Intelligence Unit, 1993/94, 16.
33. Moses Ali, “Budget Speech,” Voice of Uganda (Kampala), June 18, 1976, 6.
34. Moses Ali, “Budget Speech,” Voice of Uganda (Kampala), June 17, 1977, 3.
35. See Kasfir, “State, Magendo.”
36. Also see Niemeijer, “The Dynamics.”
37. See Rolf, Arrested Development, 210, Table A 12.
38. Special Reporter, “Coffee Season Opens Today,” Voice of Uganda (Kampala), September 20, 1976, 3.
39. UG, The Coffee Production Decree, 1977.
40. Also see Bigsten and Kayizzi-Mugerwa, “Rural Sector Responses,” 187 and 195.
41. Respondent, Namuyenje, Mukono, May 22, 1998.
42. Correspondent Masaka, “Farmers Told to Care a Lot about Coffee,” Voice of Uganda (Kampala), January 15, 1977, 3.
43. CMB, Chief Statistician, “Annual Statistical Report,” 1975/76, 1.
44. UG, The Coffee Production Decree, 1977.
45. The top well-connected magendo operatives were referred to as mafutamingi, etymologically derived from swahili words, mafuta (oils) and mingi (plenty), hence so rich as if drenched in oils.
46. Green, “Magendo,” 16–17; Mamdani, Imperialism, 96.
47. Mamdani, Imperialism, 85.
48. cf. UG, “Revised Recovery Programme 1982–1984”; Banugire, “Towards an Appropriate Policy,” 79 and World Bank, “Uganda,” 5.
49. cf. Commonwealth Team of Experts, The Rehabilitation, vol. 2, 13, Table 1.11.
50. Young et al., Cooperatives, 53.
51. Budget Speech, 1977.
52. See Rolf, Arrested Development, 217, Table A 18.
53. Mamdani, Imperialism, 99.
54. Karimi and Ochieng, The Kenyatta Succession, 8.
55. The Gikuyu, Embu and Meru were sentimentally bound by their lead role in the Mau Mau. Their association, GEMA, was an inner-circle within the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) (see Karimi and Ochieng, The Kenyatta Succession, 55–69).
56. Swainson, “Indigenous Capitalism,” 155.
57. Interviews, 1998; Karimi and Ochieng, The Kenyatta Succession.
58. Legum, Africa Contemporary Record, 398.
59. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1977/78, 3.
60. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1976/77, 3.
61. CMB, Chairman/Managing Director to Permanent Secretary, September 28, 1978.
62. See Mamdani, Imperialism, 99.
63. CMB, Chairman/Managing Director, “The Coffee Marketing Board's Contribution …,” May 18, 1974.
64. CMB, Managing Director, “Marketing of Coffee in Uganda,” July 19, 1978, 16.
65. By December 1974, James Mungai had established a secret Kikuyu dominated paramilitary code-named “Ngoroko”. Although the “Ngoroko” masqueraded as a special Anti-Stock Theft Unit, it was GEMA's subversive force for wresting power in the event of a post-Kenyatta succession crisis (Karimi and Ochieng, The Kenyatta Succession, chap. 8).
66. Karimi and Ochieng, The Kenyatta Succession, 155.
67. cf. Mamdani, Imperialism, 100.
68. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1977/78, 4.
69. See UG, “Summary of the Discussions,” 1977.
70. CMB, Store Superintendent, to Managing Director, “My Trip to Juba Sudan,” April 1, 1977; CMB, Chairman/Managing Director, to the Sudan Embassy, May 10, 1977.
71. In 1975–76, US Uganda coffee-importing firms were Folger Coffee Co., General Foods Corp., Nestle Co., Saks International Inc. and ACLI Sugar Co. (Mamdani, Imperialism, 84). In 1976/77, the US market share for Uganda's coffee was 43% followed by UK with 16%, Holland 5.6%, France 5.4%, Japan 5%, Italy 3.9%, Spain 3.3% and West Germany 1.3% (CMB, Managing Director, “Marketing of Coffee in Uganda,” July 19, 1978, 13).
72. Mamdani, Imperialism, 85.
73. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 15.
74. cf. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1977/78, 3.
75. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 16.
76. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 15–16. The US embargo only banned direct trade (Mamdani, Imperialism, 85).
77. Editorial, “Smugglers’ Den in Kampala Hotel,” Weekly Topic (Kampala), July 4, 1980, 1.
78. Retired employee, CMB 1975–1998, August, 13, 1998.
79. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1977/78, 3.
80. Jφrgensen, Uganda, 295; Mamdani, Imperialism, 86–7.
81. cf. CMB, “Contribution for the Budget Speech 1973/74,” June 8, 1973; CMB, Chairman/Managing Director, “The Coffee Marketing Board's Contribution …,” May 18, 1974.
82. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1977/78, 4.
83. Interviews; CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1977/78, 5.
84. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1977/78, 5.
85. CMB, “Annual Economic/Statistics Report,” 1976/77, 1.
86. CMB, “Contribution for the Budget Speech 1973/74,” June 8, 1973.
87. Interviews with producers, 1998.
88. Interviews with producers, 1998; also see Brett, “Problems of Co-operative Development,” 112.
89. Interview with magendo operatives.
90. Editorial, “Smugglers Should Face Squad,” Voice of Uganda (Kampala), January 11, 1977, 1.
91. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 13.
92. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 13.
93. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 13.
94. CMB, Chief Statistician, “Coffee Smuggling From the Country …,” May 7, 1986.
95. CMB, Managing Director, “Marketing of Coffee in Uganda,” July 19, 1978, 14.
96. CMB, Managing Director, “Marketing of Coffee in Uganda,” July 19, 1978, 14.
97. Special Reporter, “Fadhul Fights Evil on Lake,” Voice of Uganda (Kampala), September 7, 1977, 1.
98. Budget Speech, June 1978 and Budget Speech, December 1979.
99. CMB, Chairman/Managing Director to Permanent Secretary, September 28, 1978.
100. Asiimwe, The Impact.
101. Asiimwe, The Impact.
102. Interviews, Mukono, 1998.
103. Also see Swainson, “Indigenous Capitalism …,” 156.
104. Karimi and Ochieng, The Kenyatta Succession, chap. 3 and 5.
105. Also see Green “Magendo,” 96.
106. See Asiimwe, The Impact, chap. 4.
107. Nick Worral, “Smugglers in Uganda,” London Observer, in Weekly Topic (Kampala), “Uganda in the Foreign Press”, June 20, 1980, 5.
108. Avirgan and Honey, War in Uganda, 234.
109. Jamal, “Inequalities and Adjustment,” 329.
110. Also cf. Green, “Magendo,” 20.
111. Kasfir, “State, Magendo,” 96–7.
112. Hansard, issue 12, April, 1982, 37.
113. Asiimwe, The Impact.