Tea Bill to introduce mandatory value addition, domestic auction system

What the report says

Parliament has allowed Igara County West MP Cohen Amanya to bring forward the National Tea Bill, 2026, a proposal aimed at tightening rules around Uganda’s tea sector. According to Watchdog Uganda, the bill would require tea exports to undergo mandatory value addition and would create a domestic auction system to reduce reliance on external markets.

Amanya presented the motion during a plenary sitting on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, chaired by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa. He argued that Uganda’s tea industry has long suffered from weak legal oversight, low prices for farmers, poor-quality leaf, limited processing and dependence on the Mombasa Tea Auction in Kenya. The article says he told Parliament that about 90 percent of Uganda’s tea is currently sold through that auction.

The draft law would require buyers and exporters to add value before tea leaves the country, including through packaging, blending, grading, flavouring, branding and processing into specialty products. Exporters would need certification from the agriculture ministry before shipments are cleared, and violators could face licence suspension, cancellation, seizure of consignments or fines.

The proposal also sets out licensing rules across the tea value chain, new controls for imports, and ongoing inspection of farms, factories and storage facilities. State minister Desire Muhooza said the ministry is still consulting stakeholders. Separately, Mwenge Central MP Methuselah Kasukaali said stronger regulation could improve quality and raise export earnings. More broadly, the bill reflects a wider push in Uganda to move from raw commodity exports toward higher-value processing and domestic market control.