Cooperators lobby for government support as they gear up to set up own Bank

By Darlington Mabonga

The Uganda co-operative alliance [UCA] led efforts to moot strategies of setting up their own bank have received overwhelming support from key member stakeholder groupings who have endorsed the idea saying it was high time their long dream came to pass.

The development came to light Tuesday 24 September during the high level National cooperative consultative meeting which was held at Silver springs hotel Bugoolobi attended by over 200 distinguished stakeholders.

Themed as ‘Cooperatives Build a Better Future for All’, the Alliance had been engaged in several regional stakeholder consultative meetings discussing strategies and devising means of reviving their now defunct cooperative bank which shall be named the National Cooperation Bank.

The Cooperative Bank was established in the early 1960s as a main source of credit facilities for farmers in Uganda before its closure in May 1999 with 23 branches countrywide however the general secretary of UCA Ivan Asiimwe told the participants that their regional meetings to get advice from cooperators and lobby funds to reopen the bank was a success.

Asiimwe said cooperators need to raise Shs150bn, a minimum capital requirement set by the Bank of Uganda for the establishment of a bank.

“If the 50,000 registered cooperatives accept to combine their resources, then we can establish our bank. This system worked well in the Netherlands and Kenya,” Asiimwe said.

Asiimwe Ivan

Asiimwe requested the government for financial support toward the establishment of the bank either in debt, equity, or venture capital.

The state minister for cooperatives Fredrick Gume Ngobi who stood in for the finance minister Matia Kasaija said the government was supportive of the cooperators voice and collective demand seeking to revive their old bank given the choking high lending interest rates from commercial banks.

‘As the line ministry and government in general, we are supportive of the cooperative's view of reviving their old bank such that they can effectively drive their members' desired interests forward ‘noted Ngobi.

He lashed out at some cooperators who are bent on orchestrating internal fights within the alliance as opposed to fronting for the real issues that affect the members especially challenges of fluctuating commodity prices, high bank borrowing interest rates among others.  

The Gulu district woman legislator and committee member of agriculture in the august house during her submission lashed out at the government for not doing enough to support farmers efforts of setting up own bank as well as effective policies that favor the farming community saying the Northern region was hard hit.

She observed that the government has all it takes to support the farmers in setting up their own bank but seems not either bothered or busy with other issues. However, the minister of finance Matia Kasaija led a team to struggle with the farmers in ensuring that their dreams come true.

The stakeholders drawn from government ministries, department and agencies, [MDAs], development partners, policy makers ,the academia, SACCOs and Unions and media were exposed to several key presentations from actors such as National planning authority [NPA],Ministries of finance, Gender, trade, industry and cooperatives.

The others were the parish development model [PDM] secretariat and the Uganda cooperative alliance secretariat among other players.