Embu County Government has mooted plans to partner with the Cooperative University of Kenya (CUK) to strengthen the cooperative movement in the county.
The collaboration according to Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperative Development CEC John Nyaga will mainly focus on capacity building and leadership training of cooperative officials and farmers to enhance governance.
He said poor leadership has been the greatest obstacle in the majority of the 339 registered SACCOs across the county leading to mismanagement that has brought many to the brink of collapse.
Speaking after holding an engagement meeting with a team of officials from CUK at his office on Tuesday, the CEC said they are projecting to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the university in a month’s time that will roll out the training program.
He reported that all the management teams of the saccos in the county need capacity building to address the leadership gap.
This, he said, will aid in improving efficiency, transparency and fiscal discipline in the saccos that will in turn transform them into stable and reliable financial institutions that can drive the local economy.
Another key area the CEC said they are focusing on strengthening is training of cooperatives members on financial literacy to be able to hold leaders to account as well as adopt a savings culture and prudent spending of their incomes.
“We also strongly believe that our saccos need training on investment to transform them from mere savings institutions into investment giants.
Additionally, Nyaga said through the partnership, they are also projecting to carry out a technology upgrade of the SACCOs aimed at modernizing them to transform them from manual operations to digital platforms.
“We are looking forward to having our saccos embrace mobile and agency banking where members remotely can carry out various transactions such as deposits and withdrawals via mobile phones,” he said.
The University Registrar in charge of Finance, Planning and Administration Chris Kathoka noted that some of the officers who have been operating as leaders of cooperatives have no skills in terms of how they are supposed to be run in accordance with the cooperative’s philosophy.
“For this reason, we will be coming in as a partner in building capacity as we also explore other key areas such as value addition and aggregation of products to ensure farmers get value for their produce,” he said.
Dean School of Business and Economics at the University Prof. Lucy Kiganane said it was their desire to assist cooperative leaders, officers and members in the county run productive cooperative movements.
“We are looking forward and committed to making a difference in Embu County just like we have done in other counties that have partnered with us,” she said.
by Samuel Waititu
