KNCU leaders face trial for mismanagement

DAILYNEWS Reporters in Dodoma

Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery, William ole Nasha.

GOVERNMENT is preparing legal measures against former board members and leaders of the Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union (KNCU) for mismanagement of the union’s funds, the National Assembly was told here.

This was revealed by the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Mr William Ole Nasha, when answering Siha Member of Parliament Godwin Mollel (Chadema), who wanted to know why the government was not taking to task KNCU leaders who failed to service the 3.5bn/- loan they acquired from CRDB Bank.

According to the minister, the Commission for Cooperatives Development is finalising necessary procedures in accordance with the Co-operatives Act, Section 15 (33) before the officials responsible for the loss are taken to task.

“The KNCU failed to service the 3.5bn/ loan they acquired from CRDB during the 2008/2009 and 2010/2011, and the audit report unearthed a loss accounting to 3,946,755,736/-,” Mr ole Nasha said, revealing that among the reasons for the union’s failure to pay the loans was economic downturn and embezzlement or poor leadership.

He said in order to avoid the auctioning of KNCU properties, the union’s general meeting of October 22, 2014, approved the selling of Gararagua farm to service the CRDB debt.

In another development, the Deputy Minister told the House that the Bank of Tanzania paid 1.2bn/- as part of a 3.5bn/- loan the Coast Region Co-operative Union (CORECU) acquired from CRDB Bank.

He said BOT paid the amount as guarantor for CORECU after the union had failed to service its debt, adding that his ministry was also consulting CRDB to restructure the loan’s payment scheme to allow the union more time to pay the debt.

Mr Ole Nasha was responding to a supplementary question by Ikwiriri MP, Abdallah Mchengerwa, (CCM), who wanted to know government’s plans to bail out the cash-strapped CORECU.

The Deputy Minister reiterated government’s intention to revive the ailing co-operative sector to enable it play a key role in the economic empowerment of smallholder farmers.

He said the Fifth Phase Government is keen to assist the farmers to tackle a host of challenges they are facing, one of which is the Co-operatives sector whose performance in recent years has declined as it seeks to revitalise the agricultural sector.

He urged MPs in collaboration with farmers to initiate the revival of co-operatives in their respective regions instead of waiting for government’s aid