ZCF president calls for cooperative ministry

ZCF president calls for cooperative ministry
Written by Agness Changala
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:47:57 AM

ZAMBIA Cooperative Federation (ZCF) president Elijah Munsanje has called for the establishment of a ministry to focus on the promotion of cooperatives. And agriculture deputy minister Albert Mulonga said the cooperative movement can be used to cushion effects of the global economic crisis.

During the commemoration of the 87th International Cooperative Day and the 15th United Nations International Day of Cooperatives whose theme is ‘Driving Global Recovery through Cooperatives’ which fell on Saturday, Munsanje observed that the cooperative movement had not had the desired impact for the promotion of cooperatives in the country despite the creation of department cooperatives.

“This is due mainly to the lack of mobility by the key cooperative staff at both district and provincial level,” he said.

“Our appeal, as a cooperative movement in order to accelerate the growth of cooperatives in this country, is to have a full-fledged ministry of cooperatives as opposed to the current situation where agriculture takes more prominence in the ministry while cooperatives are almost non-existent.”

Munsanje said there was need to have a strong resource base to sustain business programmes for any meaningful development to take place.

And Mulonga said cooperatives could be a means for the people to cushion the global economic and financial crisis.

He said the vision of the government was to see a cooperative movement that was relevant to the current times of resuscitating the national economy.

“Therefore, my government would like to see the cooperative movement embracing diverse issues on matters of national importance like HIV and AIDS, MDG’s, youth and gender development and economic integration,” he said.

Mulonga said the government would continue to fund the department because cooperatives played a major role in bringing people outside Zambia’s mainstream social-economic development into the corridors of development.

He said to make positive strides in the cooperative movement, there was need to ensure that good governance and accountability were observed.

Mulonga said the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, was spearheading the review of the current Cooperatives Act with a view to strengthen the legal framework for cooperative development.