Cooperative Societies in Mombasa County marked this year’s Cooperative International Day with an exceptionally well-planned event held at the renowned Mkomani showground in Nyali Sub County. Although typically celebrated on the first Saturday of July, the event, known locally as Ushirika Day, was postponed by over a week due to unforeseen circumstances.
In Kenya, the cooperative movement has been a strong advocate for socio-economic inclusivity and has spearheaded numerous social development projects. The Mombasa Cooperatives Union, through its committee, has led significant social responsibility programs.
This year, they supported needy students at the Port Reitz School for the Physically Challenged and organized a tree-planting initiative to promote environmental conservation.
Nelson Nyoro, the County Director of Cooperatives for Mombasa County, lauded the union’s efforts in socio-economic empowerment. He highlighted the contributions of individual societies, which provided food, bedding, and clothing to support needy students. Last year, the committee even paid school fees for several students in need.
“It is the individual societies who contributed to this celebration, and the county government backed us, so we have a reason to celebrate this day,” Nyoro said.
David Obonyo, the Cooperative Commissioner and the event’s chief guest, emphasized the importance of Ushirika Day in reflecting on the cooperative movement’s progress and aspirations. He praised the organizing committee, led by Anastasia Cherono, for overcoming challenges to make the event a success.
“The Kenya cooperative fraternity recognizes the significant contribution of cooperatives to the global economy and their role in building a sustainable future for all of us,” Obonyo stated.
This year’s Ushirika Day theme, “Cooperatives Build a Better Future for All,” underscored the social development aspirations inherent in the cooperative philosophy. Cooperatives play a crucial role in various sectors of the economy, including housing, transport, hospitality, and agriculture.
The commissioner noted that about 95% of low-cost housing projects in Kenya are funded by cooperatives, which collectively have 27,000 registered societies with deposits totaling Ksh 1.5 trillion and total savings of a trillion Kenyan shillings, a contribution of over 30% of the country’s annual savings.
Despite their successes, cooperatives in Kenya face ongoing challenges such as weak governance, delayed employer remittances, inadequate market access, excessive investment in non-core activities, overdependence on external lenders, insufficient finances, outdated technology, cybersecurity threats, and low participation from youths and women.
The State Department of Cooperatives has pledged to implement necessary interventions to mitigate these issues. Obonyo believes that the Cooperative Development Policy and the Cooperatives Bill, once enacted into law, will address many of these challenges.
“We also aim to transform the cooperative structure from a three-tier to a four-tier system to improve self-regulation, power-sharing between government levels, central liquidity, shared platforms, and an inter-borrowing framework among Saccos,” he said. The government’s key role in cooperatives is to safeguard deposits and facilitate easy access to members’ funds.
To remain competitive, Saccos were encouraged to embrace technology and innovate their products and services and providing essential customer-tailored services for the development and sustainability of cooperatives.
