Africa-Press – Tanzania. CO-OPERATIVE stakeholders have been asked not to worry about the decision by the Kilimanjaro New Co-operative Initiative Joint Venture Enterprise (KNCI JVE) to set up a coffee trading company.
Instead, the stakeholders have been asked to support the decision, which aims to strengthen the cooperative movement through the Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Societies (Amcos) which are the owners of the new coffee business company.
The guarantee was issued by the Vice Chairman of KNCI JVE popularly known as G32, Mr Athanas Silayo, when unveiling the decisions made by the general assembly of members of the joint venture project headquartered in Moshi district, Kilimanjaro Region.
“At the special meeting of the KNCI JVE members, the resolution was passed that allowed the new coffee business company to inherit the coffee business, all assets, all debts and all investments that were made by Amcos through the G32,” Mr Silayo stated.
The investments included shares in financial institutions as well as all businesses undertaken by the joint venture enterprise inside and outside the country.
“The owners of this new coffee trading company are the former G32 members who will continue with the shares they owned before the establishment of the company and add more shares to the new company,” he said.
Mr Silayo went on to say that the G32 leadership was obliged to do so after seeing that the cooperative would be in jeopardy especially after the registrar of cooperatives in the country suspended the activities of the joint project.
“In a letter he sent to us intending to cancel the G32, the Registrar of Cooperatives informed us that we will not be allowed to do coffee business after the 2020 season; we stayed a whole year without doing business”, he said.
By not doing business for a whole year, he noted, the farmers who were members of the project were frustrated and that the Government also lost a lot of revenue just because G32 did not do business for the whole year.
“We were really saddened by the decision, especially considering that we had already contacted the Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa and explained to him our initiatives and achievements; even when we met him which was in 2019, Prime Minister Majaliwa commended us for the co-operation we gave the Government that led to the rescue and eventual return of some of the co-operative assets in Kilimanjaro region that had been illegally acquired”, he said.
He noted that the grievances of the leaders of the joint project were exacerbated when the Minister of Agriculture, Professor Adolf Mkenda instructed the Registrar of Cooperatives to review his decision concerning the G32 but the Registrar imposed strict conditions on Amcos which are the members of the joint venture initiative.
“This is why the special general meeting of the KNCI JVE members came up with the decision to set up a coffee company, to avoid losing overseas customers who had already ordered their coffee and also for the government to continue earning its revenue as well as foreign exchange from their coffee business”, he added.
Mr Silayo appealed to the Kilimanjaro Regional Administration, the Central Government through its Ministry of Agriculture and all stakeholders to support the efforts initiated by G32 which he said were aimed at strengthening the cooperative, whereby he said the decision to form the company would benefit coffee farmers.
In a letter sent to them from the office of the Registrar of Cooperatives in the country, G32 among other things were required to sell the coffee bags they had in stock and then suspend the coffee business come the 2020/2021 crop season.
“You are required to complete the sale of 1,608 bags of coffee you have for the 2019/2020 ; the exercise must be completed within 30 days from the date of this letter said part of the letter, dated July 18, 2020, with reference number LA.69/186/01/13 which was signed by the Registrar of Cooperatives, Dr Benson Ndiege.
“The implementation of these instructions starts from the date of this letter. However, note that after the days of selling the coffee expire I will continue with the exercise of the cancellation of the KNCI JVE without further notice”, the letter that was copied to the Assistant Registrar for Co-operatives in Kilimanjaro and all the Amcos which are members of the G32 concluded.
