Minister Nameere Nearly Soils Herself as Masaka Coffee Seller Exposes Sh150m Campaign Scam Live on Stage

MASAKA CITY — In a moment of pure public theatre that left jaws on the floor and one cabinet minister visibly shaken, a local coffee seller took the stage and laid bare what she described as a brazen campaign debt that has gone unpaid for months.

The woman, a solid, no-nonsense trader from Masaka, told a packed audience that Minister Justine Nameere ordered coffee worth UGX 156 million for distribution during her campaign. The order was fulfilled. The payment, she said, never came.

According to the seller’s detailed account, the coffee was supplied in good faith to the minister’s campaign team. When the bill was presented, the money simply failed to materialise. The trader said she had repeatedly sought payment through the proper channels, only to be met with silence and excuses.

The confrontation turned electric when Minister Balaam Barugahare, appearing alongside the minister, attempted to reframe the narrative. His efforts at damage control were quickly drowned out by the coffee seller’s calm, fact-based presentation. Documents, delivery records and the sheer weight of her testimony left little room for the usual political spin. 

The crowd’s reaction made the outcome clear: the stage belonged to the woman who had actually delivered the coffee.

The episode is particularly awkward for Nameere, who has publicly positioned herself as a corruption fighter. Critics were quick to note the contrast: a minister who lectures the nation on integrity is now accused of stiffing a small supplier in her own backyard. The same minister, opponents add, rose to Parliament under circumstances still questioned by some, including the role allegedly played by Chief Magistrate Abert Asiimwe.

No formal response had been issued by the minister’s office at the time of writing. The coffee seller, however, made her position plain: she wants the money she is owed. Nothing more, nothing less.

In Masaka on that stage, the gap between public rhetoric and private dealings was measured not in speeches, but in unpaid sacks of coffee — and one very uncomfortable moment for a minister who discovered, in real time, that some secrets do not stay buried.