Written By | Our Reporter
Workers at Igara Tea factory in Kyamuhunga, Bushenyi district carriying tea to be ready for processing
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By our reporter
Bushenyi
Igara Growers Tea Factory, once a flagship of smallholder tea farming in Ankole, is facing its worst crisis in decades as mounting debts, unpaid wages, and leadership conflicts push the 57-year-old factory to the brink of collapse. On December 6, 2025, farmers and workers demonstrated over several months without payment and the company’s failure to honour employment terms.
They say they have gone several months without payment, while workers report up to four months of unpaid salaries, sparking demonstrations, halted operations, and growers abandoning tea for more reliable income sources. Many warn they may lose property to banks if government intervention does not come through.
Management Speaks Out
General Manager Robert Nayebare said the factory is grappling with multiple setbacks, including fluctuating Mombasa auction prices, lack of fertiliser, poor-quality green leaf, electricity arrears, and ageing machinery.
“The growers have lost trust in us and started selling their tea elsewhere, and some have even uprooted their gardens,” he said.
He blamed stiff competition among factories for encouraging poor plucking standards, which produce low-quality leaf that fetches poor prices at auction. He added that the factory owes electricity suppliers, fuel dealers, fertiliser distributors, and farmers themselves for 4.5 months of unpaid deliveries.
Nayebare appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to fulfil his pledge to support the struggling tea sector.
“Fertiliser is key to improving quality and quantity. We also need the stabilisation fund to clear debts accumulated since 2022 when the price of tea dropped,” he said.
Igara Tea Growers Factory premises in Kyamuhunga Bushenyi
Farmers Decry Mismanagement
Some long-time suppliers blame the crisis on management failures.
“In the past, the factory operated well under leaders like Muhoozi. But now farmers who come for meetings are turned away at the gate,” said Deus Tumwiine.
He said many farmers supplied tea on borrowed money and have not been paid since August.
“Banks are threatening to take our property. We bring tea, they sell it, but we don’t get paid,” he added.
Workers accuse management of neglect and failing to honour employment terms. Vincent Ainembabazi, a worker and tea farmer, said even employees’ internal savings were used to run factory operations.
“We have spent nearly three months without pay. The free medical services at Comboni Hospital are no longer available,” he said.
Joseph Barugahare, a worker since 2022, said he has never been confirmed as permanent and receives no NSSF benefits. “Landlords are threatening to chase us out. Even the little we used to get has stopped,” he said.
Workers, led by Amson Tumwesigye, suspended operations until management presents a clear repayment plan.
“The NSSF money is deducted but never remitted. Workers have been patient enough,” he said.
Despite the turmoil, some farmers remain optimistic.
Denis Katimbano from Butare, Kyamuhunga Town Council, said: “I still have hope in the factory. It has supported my family for years. We only need payment for the two months they owe us.”
Factory managers say the prolonged slump in global tea prices since 2022 has strained cash flows. Rising input costs—fertiliser, fuel, and electricity—have further crippled operations.
Agriculture extension officers say financial pressure has driven some farmers to pluck immature or mixed leaf, resulting in low-quality green leaf that produces poor-grade tea at auction, reinforcing a cycle of low returns and deeper factory losses.
Urgent Intervention
Farmers and workers are urging government to fast-track intervention, restructure management, and clear arrears to save the factory. They warn that without timely action, more tea gardens will be uprooted and households will sink deeper into poverty.
Leadership Crisis Deepens
Besides the crippling debt burden, the factory has also been dogged by persistent leadership battles, prompting farmers to recently petition President Yoweri Museveni to intervene and restore order.
The tensions escalated on October 17, 2025, when a High Court order halted the confirmation of newly elected directors during the Annual General Meeting. The order, issued by Justice Simon Peter Kinobe, restrained the factory from confirming directors-elect pending determination of a case filed by disgruntled shareholders.
The injunction reportedly stunned the outgoing board and prompted chairperson Sam Muhereza to stop the meeting and call in police to disperse shareholders.
Some farmers accused him of misinterpreting the directive.
“The order was only stopping the confirmation of directors-elect, not the entire meeting,” said shareholder Mr Willis Bashasha.
Muhereza defended his actions, saying the board had no choice but to comply.
“We had prepared everything only to receive a court order the night before the meeting,” he said.
Interim Committee Formed
After the aborted AGM, a section of farmers regrouped at a nearby church and formed an interim management committee chaired by Willis Bashasha, who also serves as the Director for NRM Manifesto Implementation.
Bashasha said the move was meant to fill the leadership vacuum and restore farmer confidence.
“This is a temporary arrangement to restore order and encourage farmers to resume supplying green leaf,” he said.
Committee Rejected
However, outgoing chairperson Muhereza dismissed the committee as illegal.
“Whatever they have done is bush politics. The company runs on laws. You can’t just sit under a tree and declare yourself management,” he said, adding that the old board remains in office until a new one is legally confirmed.
Farmers Petition Museveni
The crisis escalated to the national level when a section of shareholders wrote to President Museveni on October 18, accusing Bashasha of “sowing confusion” at the factory.
In the letter titled “Request to Call Willis Bashasha to Order,” the farmers asked the President to restrain him from interfering in factory management. They claimed Bashasha lost in the recent zonal elections for directors and later “connived with Justice Simon Peter Kinobe and another election loser” to block the confirmation of directors.
“Thereafter, Bashasha led a group of people to another venue where he purported to elect himself Chairman of the Board of Directors,” the letter states. The petitioners argued that such actions were destabilising the company and undermining the rule of law.
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