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OPINION

By Robert Mwesigwa

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives is today launching the Co-operatives Registry Management Information System (CRMIS) in Mbarara.

This has been necessitated by the high cost of doing business by the ministry and the co-operators. The cost was necessitated when the ministry digitalised the cooperatives registry. Well-organised cooperatives are often more attractive to financial institutions and donors, making it easier for members to access credit and funding for investment in their businesses.

Therefore, the Cooperative Management Information System is being implemented to automate the tracking process of co-operatives and their activities for efficiency, transparency and simplification of different modules.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives with support from USAID, Feed the Future Uganda, Institutional and Systems Strengthening (ISS) Activity carried out the digitalisation of the co-operatives registry.

The process has been two-fold covering digitalisation of 50,000 co-operatives paper files and complete and total digitalisation of the management and registration of co-operatives. These manual processes have contributed to high cost of doing business for both the ministry and co-operators.

The roll-out of the CRMIS, therefore, will increase operational efficiency and significantly reduce the cost of doing business subsequently improving service delivery. This will benefit the government poverty eradication programmes such as Emyooga and the Parish Development Model (PDM). This is a very important and commendable activity by the ministry.

Therefore, when the ministry asked me, as the host Member of Parliament Mbarara City North and the national chair of the NRM Entrepreneurs League, I gladly welcomed it and offered the Ankole Garden Mall premises, at no cost as a launch venue.

The same function will also see the launch of the Mbarara City Crafts Association for Women, which is also a cooperative grouping.

This coincidence is good because co-operative systems have the capacity to empower women and marginalised groups by providing them with opportunities for leadership and economic participation that they might not have in traditional business structures.

The co-operative’s primary purpose is to co-ordinate resources across its platform groups and to deliver products and services to better the lives of individual co-operative members, their customers and their communities. But if the old system still operated, it becomes increasingly hard and costly to meet this objective.

This is why we are supporting this launch in Mbarara as away of bringing services closer to the co-operators.

Co-operatives have become larger, more diversified and integrated to match similar advances in the marketplace and on the farm. They come with a lot of economic benefits to the members.

We support this effort because co-operatives often play a crucial role in the economic development of a country.

A well-managed co-operative system can help boost local economies by providing employment opportunities, generating income for members and stimulating economic growth.

In line with Uganda’s poverty radication strategy, co-operatives can help reduce poverty by empowering individuals to work together and create economic opportunities. Members of co-operatives often have access to resources and training that they might not have on their own, improving their livelihoods.

The co-operative management systems can, therefore, help co-operatives access larger markets both domestically and internationally. This can be especially beneficial for small-scale farmers who may struggle to enter larger markets on their own.

Co-operatives also help their members secure better prices for their products and services. This increased bargaining power can lead to higher incomes for members. Let us support this venture.

The writer is the Member of Parliament Mbarara City North and national chair of the NRM Entrepreneurs League