Court rules trade minister's sugar licenses invalid
A court in Kampala has ruled that the Minister of Trade and Industry has been issuing sugar licenses for the establishment of sugar and jaggery mills without the necessary legal authority. Justice Douglas Karekona Singiza of the Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala stated that the minister has been using certificates of no objection to allow investors to set up sugar mills, even though the law requires that the Uganda Sugar Board (USB) issue such approvals. The court's ruling means that, in the absence of the Uganda Sugar Board, no new sugar licenses are valid, and no new sugar plantations should be established within 25 kilometers of an existing one.