The National Food Security Processing and Marketing Corporation (NFSPMC) (commonly called GGC) claims that D40 million dalasi could not be recovered from many seccos during the last trade season due to mismanagement by many cooperative producing societies that have the responsibility to manage seccos for the purchasing of groundnuts.
The government informed the public that it would undertake a reform of the cooperative system to ensure accountability and transparency in the operation of the cooperative producer and marketing societies. We are informed by the registrar general of the cooperative societies that cooperative producing and marketing societies are to be registered and issued with certificates to legally operate the seccos.
The registration exercise requires that the executive of the cooperative society must be democratically elected and the names of those elected forwarded before a certificate is issued to a society.
The cooperative societies with certificates are constituted into a federation whose executive work together with the GGC and are issued with QMoney which goes into the account of the president of the society in a transparent and accountable manner and that all the names of the presidents of the registered cooperatives societies are listed by the federation. We are further informed that those who are in charge of the QMoney that the money in the account of the president of the CPMS could only be paid into the account of the farmer.
Hence what is expected is that the Mamudfana CPMS would have its president, secretary and other officers elected and an application sent to the registrar general of the Federation for a certificate. The CPMS would then be part of the federation that would list down the name of its president.
The GGC would then work with such society so that QMoney would be issued as established by procedure that is common to all CPMS operating in The Gambia.
Foroyaa is now investigating a strange development affecting the Mamudfana CPMS. The Registrar General of the Department of Cooperatives has confirmed that a licence was issued for the commissioning of the Mamudfana CPMS following the submission of an application and the list of its office holders. He has confirmed that the licence has been withdrawn.
Foroyaa is investigating claims that the secco at Mamudfana is operating even though the licence of the CPMS has been withdrawn by the registrar general of the Department of Cooperative Development pending further action on the issue of the licence. Foroyaa will therefore try to find out who has given authorization for any action to be taken prior to the issuing of licence by the registrar general of the Federation. Forty million dalasis is not ordinary money. Hence the GGC, the Federation and the Department of Cooperative Development, in collaboration of QMoney must work hand in hand in a transparent and accountable manner to prevent such losses in this trade season. It cannot be business as usual.
