Co-ops, associations hit 13,500

KIGALI - The Director General of the Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA), Damien Mugabo, has said that despite poor management of some cooperatives and associations, the country has registered tremendous success in bringing the population together towards poverty alleviation. Mugabo said this yesterday in an interview with The New Times where he revealed that cooperatives increased to 3,500 from 919 in 2005 while associations are currently over 10,000. “This is one way people can play an active role in fighting poverty and be part of the country’s development program,” Mugabo said. However, he did not give the exact number of individuals within these cooperatives. He lamented that some leaders of cooperatives have turned them into their own ventures, which has kept away a good number of people. “Some leaders don’t know their responsibilities leading to the poor functioning of the cooperatives. As a result, some have proclaimed themselves owners, scaring away others who would have joined,” he said. In August this year, four top managers of Twibumbe Cooperative in Rwamagana, Eastern Province, were arrested over Rwf 300 million that went missing. They included the Board Chairman, Joseph Sematama, who is still in detention while the other three have since been released. Ends

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Co-ops, associations hit 13,500