By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
FREETOWN, Aug. 2 (232News) – The Registrar of the Department of Cooperatives in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr. Newton Marlin on Thursday 22nd July 2021 informed this medium in an exclusive interview at his Siaka Stevens Street headquarters in Freetown that his Department is working relentlessly to organize viable and well-structured cooperatives that can contribute to economic growth enlightening that the recently developed and approved Cooperative Policy incorporates emerging issues that were critically examined, especially ensuring the security of members, underscored that rogues would be brought to book and affirmed that Cooperatives form the backbone of the economy.
He continued that Cooperatives have impacted the lives of individuals and communities, that it would help stimulate the rural economy as well as export, stressed that Cooperatives are very important to drive the economy asserting that the recently validated Cooperative Policy would be a strong instrument to access finance and assured that a very strong legislation would be put in place as a number of development partners want to come onboard but are discouraged by the lack of an effective legislation.
The Registrar also stated that the policy would create market linkages and called on Cooperatives to explore the ECOWAS and other concessions, prevent exploitation and stimulate economic growth, underlined that Cooperatives must honor their corporate social responsibilities to the communities in which they operate, highlighted the core principles of the Cooperative Movement, justifications for the new Cooperative Policy that is aligned to Sierra Leone’s National Development Plan 2019-2023 to improve the lives of the people through education, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and other international policies and reiterated that the policy has a huge potential to improve the legal and operating environment for Cooperatives.
According to Mr. Newton Marlin, the old policy has been dormant for a while, that the new policy would play a key role in the development of the country, continued that the new policy would inform other activities and should be owned by all as well as serve as a clear direction and used to advocate for the Department asserting that it is a rich document as stakeholders were drawn from diverse backgrounds, underscored that the policy was borne out of the desire to advance Cooperatives in the country, that the policy would promote rural entrepreneurship and businesses as well as socio-economic development to become the fastest growing enterprise and that it is also an important milestone to achieve the vision of His Excellency the President.
“The world is dynamic. Cooperatives started in Sierra Leone in the 1930s to primarily cater and improve the lives of farmers but later developed to other sectors but over the years it has been characterized by challenges. Currently, there are 200 multi-sector cooperatives in various sectors like agriculture, fishing, housing, mining, marketing, arts and craft, savings and credit and drivers all contributing Le5 billion to the economy, “ he articulated.
On the way forward, Mr. Newton Marlin disclosed that if properly managed, Cooperatives can address many problems in the country, that they can import and distribute goods and services and sell at lower prices but reiterated that the Act is obsolete and therefore the need to review it cannot be overstated and called on the Bank of Sierra Leone to create the conducive environment for Cooperatives to operate as they account for over 70% of the financial sector disclosing that the sector is a key driver in promoting financial inclusion but cautioned that the funds of depositors must be protected and therefore the need to harmonize the laws need not be underscored.
He further appealed to other stakeholders to ensure that the policy is gender inclusive as women form the majority in the country, guarantee equal opportunity for women as well as popularize the document to create impact on women and farmers highlighting that the Cooperative Act has not be reviewed since 1977 and recalled that efforts to review the current policy commenced in 2014 to promote an enabling environment for Cooperatives to improve the livelihood of the people and in the process alleviate poverty.
Concluding, Mr. Merlin disclosed that the revised policy would also make provision for increased access to commercial banks, build the capacity of entrepreneurs, provide social protection emphasizing that the policy is a national document and appealed to all stakeholders to come onboard.
