EAC farmers demand for a law on Cooperatives

By Prossy Nandudu
 
Members of the Eastern Africa farmers Federation (EAFF) have appealed to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to speed up the enactment of East African Communities Co-operative Societies Bill 2014.

The Bill, being advanced by the Eastern Africa Farmers' Federation (EAFF), aims to facilitate the engagement of the co-operative movement in the EAC integration process.

It will also help farmers in the region understand protocols so that they can be able to make decisions and have direct contact with the people who buy their goods.
 
“Most of the trade in the region is not done by farmers. The farmers who trade in the region account for only 1%.The rest still don’t understand common market protocols,” said Stephen Muchiri, the chief executive officer of EAFF.
 
Muchiri said that the law will not only regulate cooperatives but will also help farmers across the region understand common market protocols which will then ease cross border trade.
 
He also noted that the Bill will help co-operatives in other sectors. For examples, savings co-operatives (SACCOs) in one EAC country would be able to form joint ventures with SACCOs from other EAC countries.

Muchiri made the remarks during a strategy meeting held at the Uganda Co-operative Alliance headquarters. The meeting was aimed at developing a plan to raise awareness of the Bill across the country.
 
Currently the bill is before the Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources Committee in EALA for further consultations before it can be brought back to the Assembly, for the second reading.
 
EALA Member of Parliament, Mike Sebalu said that the law will help co-operators to have functional linkages on order to maximise economies of scale.

The Commissioner of Cooperatives in the ministry of trade, Joseph Kitandwe said consultations on the law started way back in 2008 in which EAC member countries agreed on the importance of exploiting the regional integration process.
 
“The law will boost regional trade and strengthen cooperative movements in respective countries because there will be regulation,” said Kitandwe.
 
EAFF has been advancing a legal framework for Co-operatives at the East African Community since 2010.
 
The justification for a regional legislation is three-fold. First, co-operatives are people-centred institutions. Despite the challenges faced by the co-operative movement from the 1970s through to the mid 2000s, the movement is beginning to see an upsurge in interest.
 
In four EAC states the number of registered co-operatives has increased by 33% from about 24,000 in 2005 to 33,000 in 2008.
 
In Tanzania, savings co-operatives (SACCOs) account for over 50% of the registered co-operatives.
 
“These statistics indicate that there is an increasing interest in co-operatives, among the people in the region,” added Muchiri.
 
Second, there is enormous potential to do business in the East African Community. In 2008, imports into the East African Community were worth USD 23 Billion, of which oil imports accounted for 25%.