By: GNNA Reporter
Gulu
District Commercial Officers (DCOs) have been advised to revive old cooperative societies to benefit from the various government entrepreneurship programs.
In a capacity-building training organized by Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) in Gulu City for DCOs across the country, it was revealed that old cooperatives are missing out on programs like Emyooga, Parish Development Model (PDM), and Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP).
Cooperatives were introduced in Uganda in 1913 and they operated informally until the first law was enacted in 1946. The cooperative movement grew rapidly five years later, but their work was disrupted in the 1970s when Uganda faced political instability as they lost many assets, stock, and membership in wars.
Ivan Asiimwe, the General Secretary of UCA explained that in 1965, the cooperatives were dealing in export commodities such as coffee and cotton and a strong bank to support commercial.
Asiimwe who also represents Africa on the International Cooperate Alliance (ICA) said although the cooperatives are slowly being revamped, their lack of independence is the reason they are training DCOs.
“This will help in implementing government programs such as PDM and Emyooga by the use of SACCOS as they are equivalent to the previous cooperative unions,” Asiimwe said.
According to Asiimwe, reviving cooperatives will stir economic growth among members as they will have stronger bargaining power for their goods and services, both locally and internationally.
Asiimwe said that foreign cooperative unions in countries such as Germany, France, Brazil, Thailand, japan, and Singapore, have been able the exploit Africans by buying off African products at cheaper prices, adding value to them, and returning them to Africa at higher profits.
Michael Ojok, the DCO of Pader District said that the training can help the different SACCOS/cooperatives in the district to restart their mandate of helping members benefit.
There are 97 SACCOs under PDM and 36 SACCOs under Emyooga in the Pader district.
“We shall use the knowledge gained in the various topics to make sure the cooperatives lift the people from poverty,” Ojok said.
Annet Kyomugisha, the Senior DCO for Kiryandongo district explained that the knowledge she gained from the training will help her manage the SACCOS better and correct the errors they made while implementing the PDM.
“I have also learned the difference between general SACCOS and cooperative societies where registrations of the two entities require licensing and certification,” Kyomugisha said.
The question of capacitation and facilitation
John Ogweng, the DCO of Kole District complained about the lack of logistical support to facilitate the revival and enforcement of cooperatives and called upon UCA to look into the issue.
Denis Onekalit Amere the Member of Parliament representing Kitgum Municipality asked UCA to allow information on the importance of cooperatives to reach all Ugandans both at the local and national level.
Amere explained that when PDM was enrolled, the information was poorly packaged and implementation was hurried, which is why it took time for people to understand.
He urged the DCOs to consult their leaders on matters of implementation of government programs so that they are efficient.
The training which took place at the Global Friendship Hotel in Gulu City, was attended by 80 CDOs from Acholi, Lango, West Nile, and Bunyoro Sub-regions.
The themes covered include; Cooperative legal policy and regulatory frameworks, cooperative ideology and History, cooperative strategic and business planning, cooperative record keeping, financial accounting, and reporting.
Figures from International Cooperative Alliance-Africa show that by February 2020, there were 21,346 cooperative societies with an estimated 5.6 million members compared to 10,746 societies in January 2011.
