Senate to investigate coffee, tea factories

KIGALI - The Senate will soon launch an inspection of all coffee factories in order to understand how they operate. This was revealed by Spéciose Ayinkamiye, the chairperson of the Senate commission on economic affairs during a recent interview. We want to find out how they work with other government bodies to promote coffee exports in the country, Ayinkamiye said. The factories to be probed are operated by Rwanda Coffee Authority (OCIR CAFÉ) and the Rwanda Tea Authority (OCIR-THE). The investigations are expected to kick off this week but the exact date had not been fixed by press time. The inquiry was prompted by the Senate report detailing problems affecting trade in agricultural produce that was tabled Wednesday. Ayinkamiye explained that they would also seek to know the challenges the factories face so that the government could come up with solutions. She said after the investigations, the commission will come up with recommendations that would help these factories improve their performance. The Senator added that inspecting the coffee and tea factories, her commission will launch an inquiry on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It’s the role of the commission to investigate all government bodies that ideal in business related activities so that public funds are not misappropriated, Ayinkamiye added. Ends

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Senate to investigate coffee, tea factories