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{
    "id": 1566488,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566488/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, last week, we were with a number of seniors from this House and I thank them. I also know that your contribution reached the people of Migori and your message was well home with the people of Migori. I know you were traveling to Israel, but then you saw the sense of organizing the Migori people who are in the bodaboda industry in SACCOS. You can imagine that they look like small SACCOS and they do not have proper financing to help them acquire boda bodas because the cost of bodabodas tends to be very expensive yet when they organize themselves in those small SACCOs, they are able to lend each other money and support one another to acquire one more, two more or three more boda bodas within their SACCOs. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, through the effort of colleagues in this Senate, we were in Migori County to assist the boda boda SACCOs of Migori. We raised Kshs12 million. In a place where in their SACCOs used to borrow from each other in their small constituencies Kshs50, we have now expanded that tenfold. They are going to borrow and lend one another, even up to Kshs50,000, which is enough to give as deposit and get a boda boda from Watu Credit, Mogo, Progressive and other financiers in the market. The role of cooperatives as demonstrated by SACCOs cannot be understated. The Senate Majority Whip, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, has just spoken about how cooperative movements have changed the lives of farmers who are giving business sense in the milk industry in the mountain, where you come from, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. You can see how this can transform the lives of our people. Unfortunately, the challenges of governance and mismanagement of SACCOS have constantly remained with cooperative movements. The mismanagement of those cooperatives is not just based on lack of proper leadership and vision to cooperatives. We have had cases where members sometimes lose their contributions in the cooperatives. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is not only the local cooperatives that are struggling. We have seen time without number, the larger governing bodies at the national level make it impossible for cooperatives to have a sustainable way of corporate governance. This issue can be made better with proper regulation, which does not only look at the national Government's role, but also the county governments’ role. That is what this Bill seeks to address by giving life to Article 186 of the Constitution. SACCOS always draw members from the local communities hence they end up not being vibrant in terms of business acumen compared to bigger companies or bigger businesses that have found footing in our economy. Those SACCOS and cooperatives tend to lack capacity and skills which would make them more business competitive."
}