Over half of unions struck off the Registrar’s books

GEITA: TWO-THIRDS of the cooperative unions in the Geita Region have been struck off the registrar books due to insufficient capital after 2019 regulations raised the minimum capital requirement to 10m/-.

Data from the office of Geita Registrar of Cooperative showed that 334 unions out of 590 were deleted from the books due to lack of capital.

Geita Registrar of Cooperatives, Ms Doreen Mwanri said that the register remains with only 256 active unions.

“The current regulation put a capital requirement of not less than 10m/- for registration of a cooperative union,” Ms Mwanri said adding “Most failed to meet this new criterion.”

She also said many union members of the failed societies failed to come into terms with the new requirement.

“We keep on educating them,” Ms Mwanri said during a Cooperative Forum held in Mbogwe district, recently.

The forum brought together some 200 stakeholders.

The registrar additionally said the other reason for the unions failed to register was based on the fact that mining activities played a central role in Geita’s economy thus most members shifted from other societies to join the mining ones.

Martin Shija, a cooperative society member, said the 2019 regulation left them with little survival choice since it is a challenge for SACCOs to raise a capital of 10m/- as required by law.

“The current regulation directs all cooperative unions to own not less than 10m/-as a fixed capital to be registered as SACCOs. “It hard for us to maintain such sum as a capital. This left us with almost nothing for working capital,” Mr Shija said.

Geita Regional Commissioner Mr Martin Shigella said the biggest challenge for cooperative unions is that some leaders lack investment education which hinders cooperative union improvement.

The Bukombe District Commissioner, Mr Paskasi Muragili, suggested that the survival of cooperative unions better lies in convincing the mining sector investors to join the union.

Geita Regional Administrative Secretary, Mr Mohamed Gombati, urged the cooperatives to focus on the breeding and fishing sector because it is an area with more opportunities rather than depending on farming.