adminadequate attention from the parent Ministry which has other departments to look after.
He said this is despite the fact that they contribute a significant portion to the Gross Domestic Product and have more than six million members.
Mr Duru was giving oral evidence before a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development yesterday.
“We want to have our own ministry dealing with our own issues,” he said. “We are not getting the attention that we deserve.”
Their parent ministry, said Mr Duru, gets a budget vote from Treasury, but no money is extended to them despite the fact that they are a department within the same ministry.
“I think we should share the cake equally. But the money is just going to SMEs,” he said. “We are like a jealous child, we don’t expect a father to bring sweets for one child leaving another. So we are saying we can not be bunched in the Ministry of SMEs.”
Mr Duru said there were some politicians who abused co-operatives for their personal gain.
He said some co-operatives did not register with the federation as they would be riding on the back of some politicians.
He said some politicians ask communities to form co-operatives under the pretext that they will give them equipment such as sewing machines.
“When they form co-operatives, these politicians would go to an embassy, get money but would never give the cooperatives the sewing machines,” he said.
Online Reporter