Labour Dept revitalises cooperative societies after survey

Minister within the Social Protection Ministry, Keith Scott, said efforts over the past two years to revitalise cooperatives in several regions have improved the number of co-operatives.

Minister Scott said the Department of Labour conducted a survey on cooperative

societies in several regions to find out the strengths and weaknesses of their operations. He explained that they placed a task force in the regions to conduct the surveys.

He said that in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and some parts of Five (Mahaica-Berbice) were the areas selected where the survey was carried out.

“I can tell you right off that our survey revealed that we have on record one thousand, two hundred and sixty eight cooperatives throughout the regions and that almost all of them are active,” Minister Scott declared.

He noted that while conducting the survey, the department found that some cooperatives were used for money laundering.

“What we also discovered is that (some of) the cooperative societies in the past were used as one of the key areas of money laundering and the society does not know that but this is where the Financial Intelligence Unit came in and now we are working together,” Minister Scott revealed.

Some of the issues with the co-operatives which took a long time to be resolved are those which were inherited from the previous Administration, Minister Scott explained. He also highlighted that all of these issues are being addressed in the best interest of the co-operatives.