Uasin Gishu governor urges cooperative societies to invest in Eldoret town

Eldoret, Saturday 1, July 2023,

KNA by Kiptanui Cherono

Cooperative societies in Uasin Gishu have been asked to invest their resources in Eldoret town which will be elevated to city status soon.

Uasin Gishu Governor Mr. Jonathan Bii Chelilim said many cities and towns worldwide developed as a result of investments inspired by private entrepreneurs and Cooperatives Societies.

Speaking Saturday at the County headquarters during the 101 Cooperatives Day celebrations dubbed ‘Cooperatives for Sustainable Development’ Bii said that by investing in the town, Coop Societies would be aiding in creating job opportunities and steering social, and economic development programs in every sector.

He said his administration was working to revitalize the dairy sector and operationalize the already established 46 milk cooling plants spread across the wards for farmers to get value for their milk through value chain addition and urged farmers to prioritize savings.

The Department of Cooperatives and Enterprise Development has so far trained over 65000 members of different cooperative societies on the importance of savings. "We have implemented programs such as reviving and capacity building of cooperatives for them to work towards attaining their set goals," said Bii.

He added that his administration was also working with the Presidential Economic Transformation Secretariat on the creation of one vibrant co-op society per ward to handle various value chains further noting that they were engaging with development partners to see realize the completion of Moisoy maize milling plant for farmers to increase their income.

On his part, Deputy Governor Eng John Barorot challenged the societies to take advantage of the upcoming Industrial Park for value-addition purposes.

"Let us think big about what we can do so that we can benefit from this Park. As leadership we will enable you to do more especially on value addition so that we create employment," added Barorot.

Principal Secretary for Youth Affairs Ismail Madey and his counterpart for Sports and Arts Eng Peter Tum praised the county government for reviving dormant cooperative societies across the county.

"As a ministry, we deal with identification, nurturing, and monitoring of various talents and we will work with your administration to identify these talents for the ministry to support," said Eng Tum.

During the celebration, various Cooperative Societies and Saccos were awarded certificates for their exemplary services.

Courtesy ; K. N. A