By Roy Hezron
Co-operative leaders countrywide will be meeting at Amboseli National Park’s Oltukai Lodge for a four day meeting to review and discuss the implementation of regulations for the National Co-operative Bill 2021 in an occasion that will be graced by the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, livestock, Fisheries and Co-operatives Hon. Peter Munya.
The forum targets key critical policy makers from Board of Directors of Co-operative Societies, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from various Co-operative Societies, County Executive Committee members (CEC) responsible for Co-operative development, County Chief Officers of Co-operatives and County Directors of Co-operatives.
During the meeting the leaders will give their views and further input on developing regulations. They will be expected to come up with clear implementation regulations and give the much-needed guidance on the Co-operative Societies Bill and the prerequisite regulations in a meeting that will start on March 30, 2022 to April 2, 2022.
According to an open invite on the Co-operative Alliance of Kenya’s website, the critical meeting will bring radical changes in the Kenyan Co-operative movement, and leaders will be allowed to give their views and further input in developing the regulations.
“It has indeed been a journey since the last Leaders’ Meeting held to review the Zero draft Report and Findings through to the taskforce developing a framework for the implementation of the National Cooperative policy which later went through public participation successfully and final validation at Maasai Mara, we now have a bill awaiting discussion and approval by the Cabinet,” reads the CAK invite.
They will also have an in-depth discussion on the Co-operative Societies’ regulations and other legislation reforms that have impact on the Co-operative business sector, in terms of bringing in good governance and providing regulatory framework that will help nurture the sector into the future.
The meeting comes after leaders had similar engagements at Maasai Mara National Park’s, Keekorok Lodge which started December 13, 2021 to December 17, 2021 where they gave their final inputs, and to validate the much awaited Zero draft report before submission to the Cabinet Secretary to table to the cabinet.
In December 2020 the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Co-operatives appointed and gazetted a taskforce to initiate and develop framework for the implementation of the National Co-operative Policy Interventions, Review of the Co-operative legislation, Co-operative Institutional Reforms and Co-operative capacity Building.
The taskforce completed its assignment last year and presented a zero draft report and findings alongside the public participation views which it presented before the Co-operative leaders for review and validate at the Maasai Mara meeting.
The Task Force has developed a Cooperatives Bill which was availed for public participation from stakeholders and members of the public who submitted their representation on the draft Cooperatives Bill, a process that ended in November 24, 2021
In August 19, 2021 the National Co-operative Policy was tabled in the National Assembly whereby the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Co-operative recommended to the legislators to approve the policy in order to promote the Co-operatives for socio-economic transformation and further mandated the ministry to fast track its implementation.
In November 2019, the Cabinet approved the Co-operative policy which is the fourth policy since independence which is meant to establish institutional framework for enhancement of coordination of cooperative societies in the country and further seeking to deepen the deployment of ICT in the management of Saccos as well as promoting good corporate governance.
Already, Kenya Society of Professional Co-operators (KSPC) has been formed with as a result of the policy which is meant to initiative and promotes professionalism, co-operative philosophy and practice in the co-operative movement, and a draft proposed National Co-operative Bill formed awaiting presentation to the Cabinet for discussion and approval for tabling in Parliament.
Session Paper No. 1 of 1970 was the 1st Co-operative Development Policy, in which government sought to consolidate the gains made in the co-operative movement. The policy was reviewed in 1975 when the government specifically recognized the importance of cooperatives as vital organs for mobilizing material, human, and financial resources for national development.
The second co-operative policy was Session Paper No. 4 of 1987, whose theme was “Renewed Growth through the Co-operative Movement” which reiterated the Government’s commitment to enhancing the participation of Kenyans in the economy through co-operatives, while Session Paper No. 6 of 1997 on “Co-operatives in a Liberalized Economic Environment”, was the third co-operative policy where the government reviewed its involvement in the management of co-operatives and provided a legislative framework under which cooperatives could operate in a competitive economic environment.
The new National Co-operative Policy whose main theme is Promoting Co-operative Societies for Industrialization has outline various areas that need intervention most notably on the co-operative governance whereby if the policy will fully be implemented, it will restructure the Sacco regulator, SASRA to allow it regulate all financial cooperatives, creating a Cooperative Regulatory Authority (CRA) for non-financial cooperatives and streamlining and strengthening the cooperative tribunal which will include mainstreaming the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
On the broader issue of the Co-operative structure, the policy states that “While retaining the four-tier system to support the growth of the movement, the policy replaces the tier previously known as National Co-operative Organization (NACO) with the federation as a way of enhancing self-regulation within the movement. The new structure seeks to empower the apex organization CAK, to play its rightful role of advocacy for the co-operative movement.”
On ICT the policy states that the national and county governments shall work closely with the co-operative movement in mainstreaming the use of ICT, which will include formulating an appropriate legal framework that will promote the use of ICT in co-operative business across the country, and the national government to facilitate the development of e-cooperative platform to enhance service delivery to co-operative societies.
Milestones in reviewing the Co-operative legislation
- Approval of National Co-operative Policy by the Cabinet-November 2019
- Appointment and Gazettment of the Policy Implementation Taskforce- December 2020
- Tabling of the Policy to the National Assembly for adoption and Approval- August 2021
- Taskforce completes its work and develop a Draft Proposed National Co-operative Bill, 2021 and present it for public participation- public participation ends November 2021.
- Co-operative Leaders meeting to receive taskforce report on policy implementation and Review of Public participation to Proposed Draft Bill – December 2021
- Submission to the Cabinet for approval before tabling in Parliament.
