Foroyaa has been reliably informed that the secco at Mamudfana is operational without a certificate for its cooperative producer marketing society. The beginning of the erosion of transparency and accountability in a system is what leads to its total collapse if unchecked.
Before the beginning of the 2024/2025 trade season, Foroyaa took the initiative to conduct interviews with all stakeholders in order to know the system that has been put in place to facilitate a trade season that would not lead to the loss of 40 million dalasi.
We were informed that the management system that led to the loss at the seccos has been overhauled. All cooperative producer and marketing societies whose presidents and secretaries are to preside over the buying of nuts must now be registered and issued with a certificate by the registrar general of the department of cooperative development. All officers of such producer marketing societies are to be elected according to standard procedures that should be safeguarded by all stakeholders.
There is also a federation of cooperatives societies that facilitates the training of the officers of the cooperative producer and marketing societies (CPMS). Farmers are to take their nuts to the seccos managed by the presidents of a licensed CPMS who are mandated to issue a receipt containing the sum of money that each farmer should receive after the weighing of their nuts. That certificate is to be honoured by agents of QMoney who are required to pay cash without deduction or delay after it is registered in their phone.
It is difficult to understand how such a system could have been infiltrated by an unlicensed buying agent without any authority being responsible for such gross disregard of the procedures of a newly established system. Something is wrong somewhere and someone must be held accountable.
Foroyaa will look at the statute, if any, establishing the office of the registrar of cooperatives and the coordinator and liaison of cooperative societies as well as the rules governing the licensing of the CPMS in order to find out who is accountable for what is looking like deliberate negligence in ensuring that the system works without loophole.
