The Co-operative Bill, 2023 has now been put on hold after county governors claimed that they were not consulted during the drafting.
Sponsored by the government through the Ministry of Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Development, the Bill was in Parliament to allow for its first reading before proceeding to other stages of public participation. That will now not proceed to give room to consultation between the ministry and the Council of Governors (CoG).
“The council notes with great concern that the draft Cooperative Bill 2023 was approved by the Cabinet on October 2023 and thereafter introduced to Parliament in December 2023, despite a summit resolution stating that the Bill will only be approved upon agreement by both levels of government,” read a statement by the Agriculture and Cooperatives Committee Chairperson Kenneth Lusaka, who is the Bungoma County Governor.
The CoG called on the ministry to withdraw the Bill to allow for extensive engagement and consideration of comments from key stakeholders, including the county governments, to which the Co-operative Cabinet Secretary (CS) Simon Chelugui obliged.
Speaking after a consultative meeting between the ministry and the Intergovernmental Technical Relations Committee (IGTRC) in February this year, Chelugui revealed that the Bill has been put off to pave the way for setting up of technical teams and incorporate some of the agreements they had reached.
The Bill gave the government powers to monitor the activities of the Cooperative movement in the country and also intervene in case of any risk in a bid to make the multi-billion sector flourish again.
A look into the Bill shows that unlike before when the government had no direct role in monitoring the affairs and conduct of Co-operatives as a result of liberalization, this time round as per the provisions of the Bill, the government wanted to have its rightful role without necessarily being seen to interfere with the day-to-day running of the sector.
For instance, unlike before, the new Bill had proposed the establishment of three levels of offices and administration of the Act.
The first office is the Office of the Commissioner for Cooperative Development and the Office of the County Director for Cooperatives to be domiciled in the national government and the county government respectively. Both offices are tasked with providing for the promotion, registration and regulation of cooperatives.
The third office is that of the Inter-Governmental Cooperatives Relations Technical Forum, basically tasked with inter-governmental cooperative relations.
The Bill also gives the Commissioner more powers as compared to the current Act and if enacted into law, the office holder will also recommend to the CS the formulation of a national policy framework and standards for the development and growth of cooperatives.
They will also coordinate the implementation of an intergovernmental relations mechanism in the cooperatives sector, register all cooperatives in Kenya, maintain a national register of all cooperatives, and promote and facilitate the registration of cooperative federations and the apex cooperative, among others.
The County Director for Cooperatives on the other hand will be responsible for promoting the formation of cooperatives and their day-to-day supervision. They will also formulate and implement strategies, guidelines and measures in cooperative matters in accordance with the national policy framework, as well as carry out inspections of the affairs of cooperatives in the county, among other responsibilities.
The Inter-Governmental Cooperatives Relations Technical Forum as per the provisions of the Bill will be the platform for consultation among county governments and between the national and county governments on sector matters.
And now the CoG has recommended various amendments for better implementation of the proposed law by the county governments, key among them being an amendment to the functions of the Commissioner of Cooperatives.
The CoG is proposing that the Commissioner be responsible for the provision of technical assistance to the county governments in the growth and development of cooperatives, with the council arguing that this will align to the provisions of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, which has devolved cooperatives societies to county governments.
According to the governors, the county governments’ role is to ensure the development and regulation of cooperatives in their respective jurisdictions, as well as the registration of primary and secondary cooperatives.
By Sacco Review reporter
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