By Norbert Mao
The Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives in charge of Cooperatives, Alero Tom Aza, has called on the residents of Gulu City to embrace strong and viable cooperatives as a pathway to wealth creation and poverty reduction.
Speaking during a familiarisation visit to Gulu City on Tuesday, Minister Tom Aza said cooperatives can enable farmers, women and youth to pool resources, access better markets, negotiate better prices and increase household incomes.
The Minister, who said he was sent by President Yoweri Museveni to sensitise communities on the importance of cooperatives and assess the status of the sector, described Gulu and the wider Acholi sub-region as having strong potential for cooperative development.
He urged communities to form genuine and functional cooperatives instead of what he described as “briefcase cooperatives” that exist only on paper.
Tom Aza attributed the collapse of some cooperatives to weak governance, poor leadership, conflicts of interest and inadequate accountability.
The Deputy Mayor of Gulu City, Geoffrey Ali welcomed the Ministry’s engagement and pledged the City’s cooperation in strengthening cooperatives and other government wealth-creation programmes.
