Abstract:

There is concern from farmers and government that the continued importation of palm oil into the
country for the manufacture of vegetable oils and fats will not allow increased production of oil
seeds in Uganda. This will disadvantage the farmers who depend on income from these seeds and
also frustrate the efforts to modernise agriculture in Uganda. There is also concern that continued
use of palm oil as a food might cause health problems to Ugandans. It was also alleged that
Mukwano imports refined palm oil as a 'raw material' and then directly packs it as cooking oil.
This allegation implied that Mukwano imports palm oil as raw material (zero rated) and sells it as
a finished product resulting in unfair advantage over other manufacturers of vegetable oils in
Uganda. These concerns were expressed by the Parliamentary Committee on Tourism, Trade and
Industry and were reported in public media (New Vision, 11 October 2001). This was promptly
denied by Mukwano Group in the same paper on 12 October 2001 (Annex 1). These
'allegations', without first discussing with the party affected, affect the business and discourage
investors.