TCDC takes dispute resolution to cooperatives

BABATI: THE Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC) is conducting a cooperative clinic in Babati District, Manyara Region, to provide education to cooperative members and stakeholders while receiving complaints, advice and views on issues affecting the sector.

The clinic is being conducted under the commission’s “Protect Cooperatives, Choose Integrity” campaign, which was launched by the Minister for Agriculture in April this year to promote a positive image of cooperatives in the country.

TCDC Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Ms Consolata Kiluma, said the clinic provided an opportunity for cooperative members and other stakeholders to raise concerns and receive education on cooperative matters.

Ms Kiluma said the campaign was necessary amid challenges that had affected the image of cooperatives despite the sector’s long history in the country.

She said TCDC was implementing the threeyear campaign through cooperative clinics in different areas, allowing members and stakeholders to directly engage with the commission.

TCDC Head of Legal Services, Mr Oscar Ng’itu, said the commission would work with justice stakeholders, including the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), courts and police, to help resolve various cooperative disputes.

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“In implementing this three-year campaign, the first stakeholders are the people themselves, both those who have joined cooperatives and those who have not. Through the education we provide, we will encourage people to join cooperatives wherever they are,” Mr Ng’itu said.

He said other key stakeholders included the Ministry of Agriculture, which oversees cooperative societies in the country, as well as cooperative leaders, members and the federation responsible for implementing cooperative activities.

For his part, Assistant Registrar of Cooperative Societies for Manyara Region, Mr Absalom Cheliga said the region had many established and operational cooperative societies and urged residents to attend the clinic and benefit from the education provided.

Mr Cheliga said Manyara had 117 cooperative societies, of which 96 were operational, with the societies contributing to efforts to improve the economic wellbeing of their members.

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