Dorothy Nakaweesi
13 May 2005
Kampala — The government in collaboration with other development partners has pledged to financially support cooperative societies.
To this effect, all cooperatives have been told to prepare their business plans and hand them to the parent ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry (MTTI).
"Prepare business plans which can be funded by government and other development partners rather than always complain that you are being marginalised," Mr Daudi Migereko, the MTTI minister said.
According to a press release to The Monitor, Migereko said this while meeting a cross-section of cooperative heads and managers in the country at his office in Kampala at Farmers House on May 10.
He said the government would start with the already existing capacity. The respective department of cooperatives in the ministry will be fully staffed to effectively link up the unions right from the district level.
He commended the managers who have managed to keep their unions strong and urged them to make use of the national policy on cooperatives, which is now in place.
"What is remaining now is to reintegrate districts commercial officers in the work done by cooperatives. The ministry is looking into energising them in terms of facilitation," Migereko said.
He told cooperatives to make use of the existing infrastructure and regional markets and work towards value addition and offer services to the rural population.
The managers asked Migereko to include 'Cooperatives' in the name of the ministry.
The cooperative movement has in recent months received a boost after Mr Ezra Suruma, the Minister of Finance and various other voices called for the revitalization of their activities.
Suruma has said in various forums that cooperatives would offer an ideal channel to alleviate poverty through a collective harnessing of resources in the rural communities, which would improve rural welfare.
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