The Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development, Dr. Wycliffe Oparanya, today launched the strategic plan for 2023/2027 to stimulate economic development, resource mobilization and stakeholder collaboration.
Speaking during the launch, the CS stated that implementing the ambitious Strategic Plan requires substantial financial, technical, and material support in order bid to steer economic growth across the nation,
Dr. Oparanya appealed to development partners for collaboration, urging them to share the best practices in co-operative governance, revealing that the State Department for Cooperatives was developing a resource mobilization strategy to bridge funding gaps.
“The current administration has categorically identified the potential co-operatives model as a key strategy in transformation and transitioning the country Kenya into a middle-income economy,” he said.
The CS observed that the launch provides a clear roadmap and strong partnerships, which the cooperative sector is set to become a transformative force in Kenya’s economic development.
Dr. Oparanya reiterated that in order to achieve the strategic plan’s objectives, there need for provision of conducive policy and regulatory environment.
He further highlighted government’s efforts in making the strategic plan to align with national development priorities as stipulated in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
Additionally, the CS noted that the Strategic Plan, developed amidst ongoing policy and regulatory reforms, focuses on strengthening governance structures, enhancing partnerships, and addressing sectoral challenges.
Nevertheless, he acknowledged the challenges faced by the developing world, particularly in creating opportunities for socio-economic growth, while reiterating that cooperatives offered a viable solution by bridging the gap between the formal and informal economies, hence economic integration.
“The losses occasioned by mismanagement of co-operatives are a huge disadvantage to the welfare of our society. We must stay vigilant and enhance oversight at all levels,” he said.
Dr. Oparanya underscored the alignment of Kenya’s cooperative agenda with key development strategies such as Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), the African Union Agenda 2063, Kenya Vision 2030, the Fourth Medium-Term Plan (MTP), and BETA.
Recognizing the role of technology in improving efficiency, he called for the urgent digitization of cooperative services.
“Service automation is an important strategy towards entrenching good governance in the sector. We urge cooperatives to adopt digitization as a matter of urgency,” he said.
He added that the Cooperatives strategic plan for 2022-2027 is to work around 11 key result areas among them policy and legal framework, co-operatives governance, aggregation, marketing and adoption of information communication technology.
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary (PS) State Department for Cooperatives, Patrick Kilemi lauded various stakeholders like the Cooperative Bank of Kenya, the Cooperative University, International Labour Organization (ILO), SACCO Society Regulatory Authority (SASRA) for their continued support of the department.
Kilemi said that the government was committed to allocate sufficient resources to recruit cooperative officers and establish fully staffed offices to support cooperatives in Kenya under the Cooperatives Bill currently before the Senate.
“We are in the final stages of recruiting officers for cooperative officers, which has not been done for the last 20 years. We expect that, in 2025-2026, we will ensure that we have Commissioner of Cooperatives Office with officers who will be able to support cooperatives.
Making his remarks, Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority Board Chairman, Jack Ranguma, said SASRA would ensure that the goals enshrined in the Cooperatives Strategic Plan were achieved within the set time frame
He called upon the members of the public to save with SACCO, especially the ones that are registered with the government due to their robust security and reliability.
By Clinton Ng’iela
