The devastating effects of the Covid- 19 pandemic require cooperative societies to enhance their common bond by rededicating themselves to the cooperative principles to facilitate rebuilding better together.
The cooperatives movement in Kenya is rated first in Africa with over 24,000 registered cooperatives, a membership of over 14 million, and employing more than 500,000 Kenyans directly and another 1.5 million indirectly.
Cooperatives in Kenya have mobilized members’ savings and deposits of Ksh 800 billion, with an asset base of over Kshs1.2 trillion as of December 31, 2020. This is not a mean achievement, confirming that cooperatives provide a strong anchor for our country’s economic growth.
As the state department for cooperatives, we will endeavor to provide a conducive environment for the growth and development of cooperative enterprises through appropriate policy and legal framework.
Promoting good governance, enforcement of ethical conduct, and anti-corruption reforms within cooperative societies through responsive education, training, advisory services, investigations, and financial disclosure processes will continue to be key priority areas.
The pandemic has been with us for one and a half years. Its effects on the cooperative sector business and services have been enormous. Nevertheless, the sector remains resilient despite the pandemic.
The cooperative movement is vital in promoting development, alleviating poverty, and enhancing equity. The effects of Covid-19 continue to be felt, dictating our lives and having a crushing impact on the economies around the world. The response and recovery of the economies are heavily dependent on collaborations and partnerships.
This pandemic has served as a wake-up call that the world is interdependent and that the cooperative enterprise can help build a noble environment.
The role of the cooperative model of development with principles of business with corporate social responsibility has been tested since the first case of Covid-19 was reported, with different effects in various countries across the globe.
In Africa, the pandemic has had a disruptive effect on food supply chains, exacerbating food insecurity, loss of income, and increased poverty. These adverse effects are still unfolding, and the uncertainties remain high.
Most African countries now find that they have to deal with the dual challenge of addressing the new Covid-19-induced health and economic risks and fighting the existing vulnerabilities of joblessness, tropical diseases, and poverty, also exacerbated by the pandemic, against limited and dwindling resources.
In Africa, cooperatives have been at the forefront in responding to the pandemic crisis in solidarity with communities. It is encouraging to see the initiatives that have been carried out by the cooperatives, governments, and other actors in fighting the Covid-19 virus.
As stated by Robert Kiyosaki, “to gain more abundance, a person needs more skills and needs to be more creative and cooperative.” Therefore, we will have to re-engineer our systems to fit well in the post-Covid-19 period.
Creative ideas and innovations that many cooperatives in Africa have embraced towards rebuilding better together are worth celebrating. Some of these initiatives are collaborative efforts between the cooperatives themselves, their governments, and other actors. These initiatives have strengthened and extended partnerships among cooperatives, hence the collaborative synergies from the local, regional, and global levels.
The cooperatives have made remarkable contributions in agriculture, banking credit, agro-processing storage, marketing, dairy, fishing, housing, handicrafts, and the Jua kali and transport sub-sectors.
This is an abridged speech by Mr. Ali Noor, CBS, Principal Secretary, State Department For Cooperatives.
