• Says sections of the law are not clear in the monitoring and auditing of these entities
• Kahiga said the audit division is notorious for overcharging cooperative societies, something he said is increasing their operating costs.
Image: FILE
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga wants the Cooperative Societies Act amended to allow counties to fully manage the affairs of cooperatives.
The governor said some of the laws governing cooperatives were punitive and needed to be revised to allow societies to function autonomously without supervision from the State Department for Cooperatives.
The governor was speaking during Ushirika Day celebration in Nyeri town on Saturday.
Citing Executive order Number 1 of 2018 which gives powers to the Cooperative Audit Division to audit societies, Kahiga said it was unfair for the department to continue to cling to some of its functions, yet cooperatives are devolved.
“My appeal to the next government is for them to come up with a mechanism to resolve the formulation of some of the rules governing cooperatives. There are sections in the current laws that are not clear in the monitoring and auditing of these societies,” he said.
“It is not possible for county cooperative societies to be audited by people who are based in Nairobi, yet it is a devolved function. If we have devolved the cooperatives function, we should allow counties to audit those within their jurisdiction."
Kahiga said the audit division is notorious for overcharging cooperative societies, something he said is increasing their operating costs.
“We have had situations where co-operatives are charged as much as Sh500,000 for an inspection while the county only charges Sh10,000 for a similar inspection. Such an amount is hard to come by in the county and we are trying to reduce operation costs so that members can enjoy better dividends,” he said.
As part of strengthening the cooperative movement, Kahiga said the county government, jointly with Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, spends Sh3 million annually to train 800 cooperative leaders on leadership and management courses for smooth operation in societies.
More than 20 certificates were issued to cooperative leaders who had been undertaking a short course in management.
“The county government has supported the current cooperative leaders. The training equips them with digital skills and most recently the course has been broadened to cover cybersecurity due to the rising cases of cybercrimes in the country,” he said.
Nyeri county has 193 registered cooperative societies. During the function, at least 10 societies were feted for issuing high dividends to their members.
Kahiga also lauded societies for the growth of the county’s economy, especially in agriculture.
The governor said some of the biggest beneficiaries of financial support were dairy farmers’ societies who have so far received a financial boost of more than Sh100 million from the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project.
Kahiga said they had also partnered with coffee societies where farmers were benefiting from fertiliser and extension services, in a bid to increase production and improve the quality of the coffee cherry.
He acknowledged the contribution of the partnership in the improvement of the coffee farmers’ payout to between Sh80 and Sh125 for every kilo delivered to the milling factory.
The governor said the county government would soon roll out a coffee factory upgrade programme where the county would instal modern equipment.
“The county government is in the process of modernising nine coffee factories. We have agreed with the management that we will mechanise their systems and instal solar power to reduce the production cost," Kahiga said.
Edited by A.N