Background (Role of committee)
The Cooperatives committee was constituted to consider all matters relating to cooperatives development and regulations. The committees’ mandate revolves around;
- Review and develop memorandums on current Bills before National Assembly and Senate relating to Cooperatives;
- Review and Coordinate Counties position on National policies relating to Cooperatives
- Coordinate any matter relating to Cooperatives at intergovernmental level;
- To coordinate and harmonize the Council’s position on matters of Cooperatives relations between the two levels of government;
Legal Framework
The primary source of legislation of the Trade, Industry and Investment committee's activities is the constitution of Kenya 2010. The other key sources of legislation include:
- The County Governments Act 2012
Approach to undertaking Committee’s business
The committee functions through: -
- Stakeholder approach through instituting sectoral forum for County Governments officers in charge of Cooperatives;
- Operationalize the intergovernmental mechanism on Cooperatives to assist Counties achieve their objective of Cooperative development
- Sharing of best practices among County Governments in the sector.
Status Briefs (Current agendas/issued being addressed by the committee)
- Operationalization of the Intergovernmental sectoral forum on Cooperatives,
- Coordinate County Governments input in the draft Cooperatives Policy that is being spearheaded by the State Department of Cooperatives,
- Assist Counties in domestication of the Draft Model County Cooperatives policy.
Impact/Breakthroughs/Key Achievements
- Data collection in the sector on the successes made after devolution by the County Governments;
- Developed a County Model law on Cooperatives which has been domesticated by some Counties.
Opportunities that the Committee Offers
The Committee offers the County Governments with a good opportunity to present matters that affect Counties on matters related to Cooperatives development. The State Department of Cooperatives is currently spearheading the development of a Cooperatives Policy which outline the strategy in the development the sector.
Resources
- The Committee has collected information and data from County Governments on the successes made after devolution in the sector and the
intervention made by them;
- The Committee holds sectoral forums with CECs in Charge of Cooperatives to share on matters related to the sector.
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Current Sector Challenges (issue statement)
- Lack of a National Cooperatives Legal and Policy framework to guide the sector;
- The Co-operative Societies Act and the SACCO Societies Act does not provide for the functions of the devolved system of Government;
- Intergovernmental conflicts on matters related to Cooperatives sector example include in the Coffee Sector
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Key lessons from the Committees Cycle (2013-2017)
- There is need to operationalize the intergovernmental mechanism in the sectors;
- Need to develop and finalize the National Legislation and Policy respectively for the sector;
- Build linkage with the State Department of Cooperatives on regulation of the sector to avoid instances of brief case Cooperatives.
- Operationalization of the Cooperative intergovernmental forum
- Finalization of the draft Cooperatives Policy
