President Ruto commends cooperative sector, highlights key achievements during Ushirika Day 2025

President William Ruto has commended the cooperative sector for creating jobs, enhancing rural livelihoods, and unlocking the full potential of the country’s economic growth as he highlight key achievements in the sector through his administration.

In his speech read by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi during International Cooperative Day Celebrations at KICC, Nairobi on 12th July 2025 the president said his administration remains firmly committed to uplifting the livelihoods of lower- and middle-income Kenyans through an empowered and efficient cooperative movement.

The government has rolled out wide-ranging policy, legal, and institutional reforms, alongside capacity building, financial assistance, and infrastructure development.

One of the most significant milestones is the Cooperatives Bill No. 7 of 2024. The   legislation, shaped by extensive public participation, is now before the Senate and will soon be presented for the President’s assent.

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“Upon enactment, it will herald a new era for the cooperative sector—anchored in strong governance, enhanced transparency, and improved service delivery. The Bill also introduces provisions to mainstream youth participation and address emerging challenges such as climate change,” Ruto said.

Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs  Development has also constituted a high-level committee of  experts—comprising both international professionals and distinguished local practitioners—to undertake a comprehensive review of the SACCO sub-sector legal framework.

The Committee of Experts is mandated to identify and address legal and regulatory shortcomings that have, in some cases, enabled mismanagement and undermined public confidence.

These reforms will culminate in the review of the Sacco Societies Act 2008 and the development of regulations to operationalize both the amended Sacco Societies Act and the new Cooperatives Act.

The head of state stated that the comprehensive framework aims to establish a more robust, transparent, and accountable sector.

It is also intended to root out the impropriety and malfeasance perpetrated by a few officials whose actions have stained the reputation of an otherwise noble movement.

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“My administration will pursue the recovery of misappropriated funds and hold to account those found culpable, in full accordance with the law. We are resolute in our determination to restore integrity, trust, and dignity to the cooperative sector,” the president said.

As part of national economic transformation agenda, the government has also implementing targeted interventions in high-impact value chains—namely coffee, cotton, dairy, beef, and leather. These sectors hold immense potential for increasing rural incomes and securing livelihoods.

In the coffee sector government has introduced far-reaching reforms aimed at improving transparency, accountability, and efficiency.

The licensing framework has been restructured to assign clear and distinct mandates: County Governments now license millers, the Capital Markets Authority licenses brokerage firms, and the Agriculture and Food Authority licenses buyers.

For the first time in history, coffee farmers—through cooperative-owned brokerage firms—have gained direct access to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange, eliminating exploitative middlemen. We have also introduced the Direct Settlement System (DSS) to ensure timely and transparent disbursement of proceeds to farmers, and to guard against diversion of payments.

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It has also enhanced the Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund, increasing its capitalization from Ksh 3 billion to Ksh 4.75 billion. So far, over 580,000 farmers have benefited from advances totaling Ksh 8.9 billion across coffee growing counties.

Cabinet has approved a Ksh 6.8 billion debt waiver for coffee cooperative societies, with Ksh 2 billion allocated in the current financial year. These measures are bearing fruit, with some regions now recording an increase in farm-gate coffee prices from Ksh 50 per kilogram to as high as Ksh 150.

In the cotton sub-sector, we have embarked on a modernization programme for ginneries to reinvigorate cotton cooperatives. Phase one of this programme saw the successful upgrade of the Luanda District Cooperative Union ginnery in Busia County.

In the dairy sector, we have continued to invest in the modernization of New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (New KCC), positioning it as the buyer of last resort during periods of milk glut. To date, the Government has invested Ksh 4.6 billion in facility upgrades and milk stabilization efforts.

In the current financial year, an additional Ksh 550 million has been set aside, including Ksh 50 million for a new processing facility in Narok, and Ksh 100 million for the upgrade of the Runyenjes cooling plant.

Also Ksh 400 million has been dedicated to stabilizing milk prices and protecting farmers’ incomes. Government is supporting the construction of an animal feed plant at Meru Central Dairy Cooperative Union, with Ksh 100 million already disbursed and a further Ksh 100 million earmarked.

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Milk coolers have been distributed to dairy cooperatives to improve product quality and reduce post-harvest losses.

On the beef and leather value chains government has constituted a Livestock Sector Working Group to dismantle policy and financial bottlenecks and unlock opportunities for pastoralist communities.

The Government is spearheading the promotion of new livestock cooperatives and revitalization of existing ones, particularly in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs).Feedlot systems are being advanced through cooperatives as a sustainable solution to increase productivity, improve value addition, and secure pastoral livelihoods

In addition the government is promoting the establishment of multivalued cooperatives and savings and credit cooperatives in every ward across the country.

These grassroots institutions will serve as last-mile service delivery hubs—facilitating aggregation, market access, value addition, access to affordable credit, and farm inputs.

This approach is central to government strategy of creating jobs, enhancing rural livelihoods, and unlocking the full potential the sector value chains.

By Obegi Malack

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