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{
"id": 1566515,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1566515/?format=api",
"text_counter": 268,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
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"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to also make my valued comments on the Cooperatives Bill (National Assembly Bills No.7 of 2024). The cooperative movement, as my colleagues have said, is a very important sector in our economy. If you look at the figures from the economy, you will realize the importance of cooperatives in our economy because 63 per cent of Kenyans depend on cooperatives. This means, more than half of the population of Kenya depends on cooperatives, either directly or indirectly, through members of the cooperative societies and their dependents, or through the programmes that they do in the society. I believe this number will likely go up as we continue to improve the status of cooperatives in the country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, 45 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Kenya is from cooperatives. This is huge, and therefore, it is a sector that is very significant to our economy. We are talking about an asset base for cooperative of Kshs1 trillion. This is nearly half of our national budget. This is a huge amount of money. Mr. Temporary Speaker, 30 per cent of our national savings are coming from cooperatives. These figures clearly indicate that this sector is important in our economy. The popular Session Paper No. 10 of 1965 that many of us have been referring to, talked about African socialism, where they were seeking to africanize the economy. One of the tools they used to Africanize the economy was through the cooperative movement. Even our forefathers had a very good vision of what cooperatives could do to our economy. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, having given a good picture of what cooperatives can do to our economy, including even having a loan portfolio of Kshs700 billion, the money that cooperatives have lent out to Kenyans, there are other issues that we need to look at. Kenya has been ranked very highly in the cooperative movement, being ranked as the top country in Africa and among the top ten in the world. However, that ranking has been going down and something has to be done about it so that we maintain our position as a leader in the cooperative movement, not just in Africa but globally. That is retarding, it is going down. I am aware other countries are coming up very fast, especially West African countries which are coming up to claim their space. One of the negative things that have happened in this country when it comes to cooperatives is the corruption and the stealing at the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO). As we talk now, depositors are at risk of losing Kshs6 billion as a result of the stealing, looting and corruption at KUSCCO, which is the apex cooperative in Kenya, where, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kshs6 billion is not accounted for because of irregular and illegal withdrawals, illegal cash transfers, illegal dividends and many other malpractices that happened. What I fail to understand is that the report is there, but these people who have been involved in this fraud are still enjoying their ill-gotten wealth and the police are"
}