The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and
Cooperatives has introduced a digital registration process for credit and savings cooperative societies in the country, a move that stakeholders have welcomed.
The Cooperatives Registry Management Information System was launched in Mbarara City.
Mary Amumpaire Mwesigwa, the Head of ICT at the Ministry, stated that the move signifies a significant shift from manual registration to the use of electronic methods.
She mentioned that the new system ensures equitable and timely access to services such as mobile money payments, e-certification of documents, and e-reservation of cooperative names, noting that these services are now available along the entire service delivery chain, from registration to management of cooperative societies at the Ministry.
During the system’s launch, Geraldine Ssali, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, stated that the development of the system aligns with the National Vision 2040, which emphasizes ICT as a significant opportunity for transforming the economy.
She emphasized that the system will strengthen cooperatives by enhancing their capacity in group dynamics, entrepreneurship, and value chain activities, particularly collective marketing.
Alex Asiimwe, the Chairperson of Mbarara Grapes Farmers Cooperative, praised the transition to a digital system, noting that the previous practice of traveling to Kampala to file annual returns and make amendments to the Cooperative By-laws was inconvenient for cooperators.
He added that manually locating files from the records was tiresome and time-consuming.
Allan Mbabazi, the head of ICT at Rwanyamahembe SACCO, mentioned that traveling to Kampala was very costly for cooperatives, who would spend more than a million shillings to transact any activity at the ministry.
However, Claire Kasheija, a cooperator, urged Ministry officials and Commercial officers to train SACCO officials and board members of cooperatives and also provide them with computers and internet gadgets to ease the implementation of the system.
Ivan Asiimwe, the Secretary-General of Uganda Cooperative Alliance, stated that the digitalization of registering cooperatives would make it easier for them to revive the Uganda Cooperative Bank, enabling Ugandans in cooperatives to save more money to invest in projects to develop themselves.
Uganda has a total of 44,879 cooperatives, including 10,678 SACCOs, 6,880 Emyooga SACCOs, and 13,159 credit and savings cooperative societies (SACCOs) among others.
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