Archive for category: Legal

By Patrick Jaramogi

Members of Kampala Civic Centre Boda Boda Transporters Cooperative Society (KCCBT) have been urged to expand their bond of association, to include wives of the cyclists.

While speaking at the 2nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the cooperative, Mr. Leonard Okello, the CEO of The Uhuru Institute for Social Development expressed concern regarding the gender composition of KCCBT. KCCBT, a cooperative for boda boda cyclists has 108 members but only 2 are women.

“Copy from Mwalimu National in Kenya. Much as the rule is that members (teachers) must be degree holders, their spouses are free to join as members. Cooperatives is all about numbers”.

Mwalimu National is a SACCO for teachers in Kenya. It is the largest African SACCO, with over 87,000 members and savings of over Ush. 1.148 trillion.

Mr. Okello said The Uhuru Institute is prepared to start the Soko Credit to benefit women in small scale business. “If your wives were members of KCCBT they would be the first to benefit from the Soko Credit that we are launching soon,” he said. Soko Credit is a loan facility for small scale businesses.

Mr. Okello further urged the boda boda cooperative to emulate Kenya’s Mwalimu and Yetu SACCOs for prosperity.

Mwalimu has 75% stake in two leading Kenyan Banks and similar stake in an insurance company, while the Yetu SACCO in Meru has a tea factory as well as a university.

“You can even do much better than them once organized and united,” he said.

He added: “Once you fight within yourselves you derail yourselves. Once organized, you can be so great.”

Mr. Kaseesa Abdallah, the Chairman of KCCBT urged the boda boda riders to be active and support KCCBT to grow. He said they now have 108 members with savings to the tune of Ushs. 63,291,500.

“We began the Piki-Credit in April 2017, while the oil project started in June 2017,” he said. He urged the members to only purchase oil for their motorcycles from the KCCBT offices.

KCCBT is supported by the Freedom Fund, through the Piki-Credit facility. Piki-Credit is an enterprise of The Uhuru Institute, which provides flexible motorcycle loans to cooperatives. The loan is repayable in approximately 16 months only. During the AGM, 28 motorcycles where disbursed to members of KCCBT.

The boda-boda business in Kampala is lucrative. The influx of people in the city and the resultant heavy traffic has posed a challenge in transportation. People spend hours trapped in endless traffic, arriving late at their destinations. Boda-bodas motorcycles provide an efficient solution to the transport crisis because of their ability to navigate easily through traffic and access remote areas. The sector employs close to 2 million people, approximately 8% of Uganda’s population.

The AGM was held on 21 October 2018.

The post Boda Boda Cooperative Urged to include Spouses appeared first on The Cooperator News.

By Nancy Akullo

Newly elected Board Chairperson of the Uganda Cooperative Savings and Credit Union (UCSCU), Hon. Bintu Jalia Lukumu has pledged to continue lobbying for favourable policies and regulations for Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs).

Elections for new Board members were held during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September 2018. Hon. Bintu, who is also the Chairperson of the Parliamentarians SACCO is the District Woman Member of Parliament (MP) for Masindi.

Mr. Sylivester Ndiroramukama, the CEO of UCSCU said, “Hon. Bintu has been very influential in lobbying for SACCO policies. She was supportive of the 10-year Income Tax exemption.”

Among the regulatory issues of contention for SACCOs, Hon. Bintu cites the dual regulation by the Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders Act (2016) as well as the Cooperative Societies Act Cap. 112.

“You cannot ask me to operate under 2 environments. If I abrogate this one, then the other one will strike me,” she said.

She cited a clause which mandates SACCOs with voluntary savings in excess of 1.5 billion shillings and institutional capital above 500 million shillings to apply to for a license from the Central Bank. Bank of Uganda (BoU) has since developed regulations for these SACCOs.

“The principles of SACCOs are different from where they are taking us. BoU has been regulating banks. Now they are taking SACCOs (which are member owned and operating under the Cooperative Act), and placing them under Bank of Uganda Act and other regulations. We need to harmonise this,” Hon. Bintu said.

In 1999, BoU adopted a tiered approach to the regulation and supervision of financial service providers.

4 Tiers emerged and SACCOs were placed under Tier 4 (Microfinance institutions not supervised by BoU).

In July 2017, the Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders Act (2016) was enacted, to regulate SACCOs and other Tier 4 institutions.

However, SACCO members have expressed concern over the Act. During a consultative dialogue organized by Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) in May 2018, they said the Tier 4 Act makes SACCOs lose their identity as cooperatives and mainly focuses on licensing rather than operations.

Hon. Bintu gave re-assurance that the inconsistencies will be harmonised.

The MP was also instrumental in lobbying for the introduction and preservation of the 10-year Income Tax waiver for SACCOs, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

She said the tax waiver will enable SACCOs to stabilise and build their internal capacity.

“When you tax SACCOs, you are likely to kill the morale and urge people have developed in saving, and yet here we are saying let’s promote a savings culture,” Hon. Bintu said. “After 10 years, we shall say now we are ready to pay taxes,” she added.

END.

The full list of newly elected UCSCU Board and Supervisory Committee (SUPCO) Members 2018/2019

Names	Name of SACCO	Position
1.	Hon. Bintu Jalia Lukumu	Parliamentarian SACCO	Chairperson Board
2.	Bongozya Stephen	Shuuku SACCO	Vice Chairman Board
3.	Nkajja Derick	FIC SACCO	Treasurer
4.	Komunda Annet	Kihanga Mparo SACCO	Board Member
5.	Akanyihayo Fortunate	Nyakibaale SACCO	Board Member
6.	Naliima Benedicto	Mityana Mubende Teachers SACCO	Chairman SUPCO
7.	Mwanje Edie Drick	Busaana SACCO	SUPCO Member
8.	Namugongo Charles	Kyalule SACCO	SUPCO Member

The post New UCSCU Chair to Lobby for Harmonisation of SACCO Regulations appeared first on The Cooperator News.

By Nancy Akullo

Kampala

Cooperatives can expect to attract more reliable market, local and foreign, as the warehousing Standard for bagged cereals and pulses takes effect.

Developed through consultation with major stakeholders, the Standard was launched by the Uganda Warehouse Receipt System Authority (UWRSA) on 25 September 2018.

The objective of the Standard is to promote; commodity exchange in the region, and the functioning of the Warehouse Receipt System, through providing guidance on appropriate storage practices.

In an interview with thecooperator Magazine, Ms. Deborah Kyarisiime, the Executive Director of UWRSA said the Standard was launched to address incoherence issues regarding storage.

“Uganda has so much storage. But not all of our storage is up to food storage standard. Yet food cannot be kept anywhere. The Standard was developed to address warehousing gaps that ultimately affect the value of commodities,” Ms. Kyarisiime said.

“Also, it was not proper for us to make recommendations to warehouse owners, without proper basis,” she added.

According to Ms. Kyarisiime, the major warehousing gaps are; inadequate ventilation, improper drainage and insufficient amenities such as hand washing points, changing rooms for staff, laboratories, offices and toilets.

The new Standard comprehensively address the issues. It provides specifications with regard to; location, structure, safety, management, pest control and record keeping. According to the Standard, building materials must conform to the National Building Regulations and Standards. Floors must be elevated and smooth (with no cracks), and translucent roofing sheets are advised as opposed to iron sheets and roofing tiles.

Ms. Kyarisiime urged cooperatives to own the standard and drive implementation. She said compliance will reduce postharvest losses and increase household income.

Mr. Francis Muhindo, the Assistant Warehouse Manager of Nyakatonzi Growers Cooperative Union, a warehousing service provider in Kasese said, “The new standard will promote quality produce standards at both indigenous and international levels which will attract more reliable markets for farmers’ products.”

Warehousing minimizes the effects price fluctuations by storing goods when supply exceeds demand and availing goods when demand exceeds supply. Through the Warehouse Receipt System, goods stored in a warehouse can be used as collateral for loans.

END.

The post Cooperatives Envisage Reliable Market as New Warehousing Standard on Bagged Cereals Takes Effect appeared first on The Cooperator News.