What can we learn from our cooperative's glorious past?

Recently I have seen abandoned cattle dips in three locations in the country, a reminder of the years when the cooperatives in the dairy sector pooled resources to provide services to dairy farmers. At my local dip this is how it worked, every Monday we herded the dairy animals to a cattle dip not too far off from our family farm.

As little boys, it excited us to be part of that trek to the dip. Animals waited in a common enclosure, which I wouldn’t now recommend, for their turn to jump into the dip, swim across and come out the other side.

Once in a long while, somehow, miraculously a cow would turn in the wrong direction within the narrow dip channel, which interrupted the process until it was properly redirected.

Then, there were the farmers’ field days when they would assemble on an exemplar farmer’s farm for training; it was the case for the tea and coffee farmers. Tips on best farm management practices were brought to life during these field days.

Management of cooperative resources

On the other hand, the field officer knew ‘our’ dairy animals by name — yes, each had a name. He would regularly come to inspect the milk production records for each cow. The officer asked tough questions, especially if there was a drop in milk production but always with recommendations to redress the problem.

In addition to this supportive ecosystem, farmers were paid monthly for the produce delivered but they also waited anxiously for the yearly dividend, and there was never disappointment.

The import of the foregoing is that for the farmer, the cooperative was the fulcrum of it all; directing matters to ensure that the farmer did the right thing to reap maximum benefits from their labour. The spokes ran all the way from the fulcrum to farmers, individually and collectively. So, what went wrong?

We can reclaim our glorious past but cooperatives must undergo internal reconfiguration. Cooperative members must confront poor management of the cooperative that results from ill-equipped leaders. Could term limits be the magic wand against rampant poor management of cooperative resources?

Financial dependency cycle

The opportunity to do so presents itself in the form of the Cooperatives Bill, 2024 that is before Parliament. It is here that cooperators should resolutely engage.

But, term limits can only be effective if there is a truly democratic system that allows members to elect leaders without influence and based solely on the candidate’s ability to make positive contribution for the overall and general success of the cooperative.

There is often too much interference from individuals who perceive the cooperative as a channel for personal gain. Leaders often spend outrageous resources to ensure they are re-elected ad infinitum. For such persons, a cooperative is a source of self-gain but the law can check that.

Apart from the political interference, cooperatives also suffer from financial mismanagement. Poorly managed cooperatives end up in a financial dependency cycle. Putting in place strict and enforceable financial controls could suppress the leaders’ appetite for self-gain and redirect them to focus on the common good to help cooperatives thrive. The leaders of the glorious past were selfless. We could borrow a leaf from that era!

Prof Nyamongo, a multiple award-winning anthropologist and Fulbright Scholar, is deputy vice-chancellor at The Cooperative University of Kenya. [email protected]. @Prof_IKNyamongo