Ministry of Cooperative Development & Marketing

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The Cooperative movement in Kenya is an important player in the social economic development of this country. Cooperatives cut across all sectors of the economy and provide an important framework for mobilization of both human and capital resources. With a membership of over 8 million in 13,000 registered cooperative societies, the Sacco sub sector, in particular, has mobilized over Kshs. 230. billion.

The Movement is independent and autonomous. However, the government, through  the ministry of Co-operative   Development and marketing  has continued to play a key  facilitative role  in the activities of the Movement .The Ministry  has been  working   on  enabling  the co-operative sector  to be vibrant , effective and   globally  competitive by  forging  close  linkages  between  the  Co-operative   Movement  and Government  line  Ministries. As  a result,  Co-operatives are now playing  an important  role in the  achievement of  Kenya  vision  2030 and  the  Millennium  Development Goals.

It is worth to  noting  that the United  Nation General  Assembly, as  a clear  affirmation  that  it supports  cooperatives, declared  the year  2012 as the International  Year  of Co-operatives.There  is also a growing  consensus among the  International  agencies  about the importance of cooperatives. The Government firmly  believes  that   the  Mwananchi-owned  and  managed  organizations  are  helping this country to revitalize  the agricultural  and financial  sectors and  the  rural  economy. In addition, an IMF  survey in   2007  showed  that “ co-operative  banks have  become  important parts of  many  financial  systems with attendant potential  financial  stability  issues”. It  is clear  that, while  Co-operatives  may  not be  the  solution  to  the  Kenyans problems, they  are  certainly  part  of the  solution. Kenyans  expected to embrace  the  culture of savings through SACCOs and to work together on the basis  of  the  co-operative  principles  and goals. These  values  include; self –help , self  responsibility, democracy, equality , equity,  solidarity and the  ethical values  of honesty, openness, social  responsibility and caring for others. Some of the measures the Ministry has undertaken to create an enabling environment for co-operatives to prosper    include;

  1. The establishment of  the  Sacco  Societies Regulatory  Authority (SASRA)  to regulate the  large  financial Saccos;
  2. The establishment of the  Ethics  Commission  for  Co-operative  Societies (ECCOS) to  address governance matters.
  3. Working  together with  the co-operative  Movement  to revitalize the  Co-operative Alliance of Kenya (CAK), the  Apex body of  co-operatives,  to enable  it play a more  critical  role  in modernization  of the  co-operative  sector including  participation  in serious  investments;
  4.  Review of policy in line with the new  constitutional  requirement on the devolved  Government and  the revision  of the  Cooperative  Development  Policy  and  the  Cooperative  Societies  Act CAP 490.
  5. Revitalizing key commodity co-operatives in areas such as dairy, coffee and horticulture.
  6.  The Government strategies to improve road transport include self regulation requirement for PSV matatu vehicles through formation of  SACCOS or Companies. To this end, many Matatu SACCOS have been promoted and over  500 registered by the Ministry  in  the past few months. Besides  enlisting  co-operatives  in the   improvement  of  road  safety , law  and  order  and  bringing  sanity  on our roads, the  matatu  saccos  are  also  tapping  into the economies of  scale due to the co-operative  business  model  to create  wealth for its members.