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{
"id": 1495551,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1495551/?format=api",
"text_counter": 435,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "the things that the Mover of the Motion, the Hon. Whip of the Majority Party has stipulated but allow me to mention this. If you look at the rights and liabilities of members under Part 5 of the Bill, Clause 45 of this Bill, it says that a member other than a cooperative shall not hold more than a fifth of the paid-up share capital of any cooperative registered in Kenya. Hon. Temporary Speaker, when I went through this Bill, it was a very important element of the Bill to me. This is because we have also seen individuals who form cooperative societies and they contribute their own capital. They probably own 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the paid-up capital or the share capital of that cooperative, then they invite other people to own about 60 per cent. But the 60 per cent probably own one share each, but the majority share capital holder becomes like a majority shareholder in a company. And that is not the essence of a cooperative movement. A cooperative movement, co-operators are supposed to be equal, and to have equal votes when they are voting. We have seen instances where people are able to micromanage the management and governance structures within a cooperative society because of the level of shareholding that they have in terms of the paid-up share capital. It will now not be possible to hold more than a fifth of the paid-up share capital of any cooperative society. If a cooperative society has Ksh100,000 paid-up share capital, then a fifth of that is 20,000 shares. Therefore, even those of us who are old Members in this House, Hon. Temporary Speaker, and members of Bunge SACCO and PACOSO, we must be careful. Mr. Mwita, who manages our PACOSO SACCO, must ensure that even yourself, Hon. Speaker, who has been in this House for quite some time, you do not subscribe to more share capital beyond a fifth. If that happens, they will be given time to rectify. Therefore, you can allow, either you increase the paid-up share capital of those cooperative societies, or convert part of that paid-up share capital into member deposits, so that no single member holds more than that. That is the same spirit, in the insurance industry and in the banking sector. People are not allowed to hold beyond, 20 per cent or 25 per cent shareholding in banks and our insurance companies, to ensure that there is proper governance within the finance sector. As I said, the cooperative movement is also part of a very critical finance sector in this country. Therefore, there is need for that restriction. With those few remarks... The Temporary Speaker (Hon. Farah Maalim): One second. Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu, UDA): Allow me to second, and plead with Members to support this Bill and have it become law. The realisation of this Bill into law will, in a very big way, sort out the myriads of problems that bedevil our transport sector, and more importantly for me, the coffee sector. Without anticipating debate, we will be considering the Coffee Bill in a Committee of the whole House tomorrow afternoon. It would be very good if these two Bills—the Coffee Bill and the Cooperatives Bill—become Acts of Parliament before the end of this year. That would help the governance of our cooperative movement and producers. This Bill will not just affect the tea and coffee sectors. Its impact will extend to the milk sector. I believe even fishermen from Hon. Oundo's Funyula Constituency are co- operators. They need this Bill to become an Act of Parliament to enable them govern their fishing cooperative societies better."
}