Fishermen in Tanzania’s Mwanza city are in final preparations to establish a Savings and Credit Co-operative Society (SACCOS) that would boost their business in the region.
Interim chairperson of the Mwanza Regional Fisheries Primary Cooperative Society, Thomas Chamoto told the ‘Daily News’ that all necessary preparations have been completed as, “We are now preparing the constitution that would ultimately be sent to the registrar of cooperative societies for approval,” says Mr Chamoto.
The envisaged cooperative has more than 100 members and it would help its members, “We want to build a strong economical primary cooperative society that would save fishers to thrive in their lives,” says Mr Chamoto.
Mr Chamoto noted that Mwanza Fishers Primary Cooperative society has fishers who embraces over 20bn/- collateral which enable them to do fishing businesses in the area, with objective to start the primary cooperative society which will curb the existing oppression through fish processing industries’ owners.
Mr Chamoto said that members ought to prove constitution before passing it so that it can be sent to the Mwanza Regional Cooperative Registrar for further procedures and additional action. He said that in order this cooperative to be active and mutual exclusive, each member will have to contribute, with an objective to raise more funds that would make the cooperative become sustainable.
This is due to the fact that the primary cooperative society will deal with purchasing of boat engines and fishing gears which will facilitate fishers to be afforded with engines and other fishing gears to the members who join the cooperative.
This will help fishers to buy engines and other fishing gears from their cooperative society instead of the current one where the fisher are depending on Fish Processing industries’ owners where they buy one boat engine for 200,000/- and one fish net at 15,000/-.
He noted that the cooperative will hold 3000 shares where 2,000 shares will be provided to the cooperative members and no one is allowed to own more that 5,000 shares.
2012 Tanzania Daily News