Co-ops body doesn`t legally exist-PAC

PAC Chairman John Cheyo

The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has questioned the ‘legality standi’ of the Commission for Cooperatives Development, saying its establishment is not supported by any law though it receives huge sums of money from government coffers.

This was revealed yesterday in Dar es Salaam by the committee members in a meeting with Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives officials who presented a report on the commission.

PAC Chairman John Cheyo said the Commission received more than 5bn/- as recurrent and development expenditures from the Treasury in 2010/2011 financial year although its establishment still remains questionable.

He said that in between 2010 and 2011 the government through the Treasury disbursed 5.73bn/- to the ‘ghost’ commission for its recurrent and development expenditures.

“You can’t say that you have the commission without the law establishing it… Which strategies have been set up to reduce its debts and make it independent?” Cheyo queried.

Cheyo said: “It like issuing a cheque to an unregistered entity…the government is hurrying to allocate a budget and vote while the commission is legally not there….”

To prove that the commission is not legally registered, there was no representative during the yesterday’s meeting, although the committee had expected to see the presence of the director general or any top leader.

In the circumstances, it was the ministry PS who filled the void as acted as spokesperson of the commission.

He advised ministry officials that they should abide by the law and ensure that the institutions for which they work are audited often.

He counselled the ministry not to allow the commission to rely on subsidy from the government every year.

“This is because if a cooperative creates a debt the ministry will be responsible to repay,” he said.

Cheyo however ordered the Treasury not to dish out more funds to the commission because it is not a legally recognized entity.

For his part, defending the commission, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mohamed Muya said the process of its formation is still underway.

Muya’s statement was highly criticised by committee members, with Cheyo saying they have no problem with the process, although it will not change the truth that the commission is not a legal entity.

He added that they realised that the government had to repay debts amounting to 50bn/- for Cashewnuts Growers Association (CGA) and 1.1bn/- for Nyanza Cooperative Union (NCU).