By Munene Maina
The State Department of Co-operative has issued a notice to dormant co-operative societies to shape up or close shop.
Permanent Secretary in the department Ali Ismail said they will liquidate all non-performing societies in the country.
Statistics from government indicate that more than half of over 21,000 registered societies are inactive.
In February this year, the Government said it was going to shut down about 5,000 dormant co-operative societies. County governments had been notified to carry out the audit to establish the state of societies, to pave way for deregistration to clean-up the register.
At the same time, the PS said the National Government together with county governments were enhancing supervisory role to help co-operatives meet their obligations to members.
Ismail said the movement will play a big role in the Government’s Big Four Agenda particularly in housing, manufacturing and food security.
“By partnering with the Government and other relevant agencies, Saccos can build more affordable houses and assist in meeting the demand of more than 200,000 houses annually,” said the PS.
He said the Government will revitalize the co-operative sector to develop beyond its challenges.He said the President had awarded various co-operative leaders for their important role in nation building.
The PS remarks were contained in a speech read on his behalf by Commissioner for Co-operatives Development Mary Mungai during KUSCCO Annual General Meeting in Nairobi.
Mungai said the sector had made major milestone and called Sacco Societies leaders to mainstream their activities with government agenda.
However, the few number of co-operatives staff in comparison with registered societies was making it hard for them to efficiently do supervision according to the commissioner.
