The transitional government did not find any other solution to stop the price hikes than thinking of returning to the cooperatives system which was active years ago. The activation of cooperatives will have its positive impact on the prices.
The concerned authorities including the Ministry of Industry and Trade, government partners, the private sector announced an ambitious programme to provide the citizens with the strategic commodities with reduced prices.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade affirmed that the reactivation of the cooperative system is one of the major roles of the Ministry in its fight against the price hikes.
We believe that supporting the cooperative system should be one of the roles of December revolution because it is the only available solution to curb the brokers phenomenon and providing the commodities to the citizens with affordable prices with a marginal profit.
One of the biggest mistakes of the ousted regime is its negligence to the cooperatives which were protecting the poor people from the mafia of the free market.
We have now more than 20 thousand cooperatives all over the country, but
Only 1070 are functioning and the rest are not working without any justification.
It is high time to reactivate the role of the cooperatives considering that it is the only way to defeat the brokers who are causing the price hikes, hence leading to considerable decline in the rising inflation.
One of the sound decisions of the transitional government represented byits Ministry of Trade and Industry is its announcing support to establishing cooperatives in order to contribute in the availability of the commodities besides and selling it with marginal profit. This marginal profit will go to the shareholders of the said cooperative.
We believe that supporting the establishment of traditional forms of cooperation all over the country as the basis for forming modern cooperatives:
The cooperatives have been developed in a local context to solve problems that beset ordinary people, based on the traditional mutual work in the specific local environment.
Cooperatives movement has its deep-rooted and glorious history in supporting the economy and contributing in socioeconomic development, particularly their impact on poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration in Sudan.
The thirtieth of last century witnessed the emergence of cooperative in the then Northern Province to provide agricultural machinery to the farmers through importation a matter that represented that start point for a real step forward for the farmers in the province.
Another example is Wad Ramli Cooperative in Khartoum North which was established in the fortieth of last century as it managed to export fruits and vegetables abroad.
During the period 1969 – 1980 and due to the consequences of the economic situation, late economist Prof. Mohammed Hashim Awad revived the cooperatives movement as most of the districts in the country established its cooperatives to provide the commodities from the factories directly to the consumer which means simply selling in wholesale price.
Citizens were able to get their commodities in reduced prices and we are still recalling the cooperatives of each block with certain its certain selling days and the volunteers who took the responsibility in running those cooperatives with their high national spirits to serve their people.
The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, highlighting the contribution of cooperatives to socioeconomic development. It is high time for our government to launch a cooperative strategy to create viable, sustainable and local economies.
We urge all concerned ministries, institutions, related civil society organizations to work jointly to revive the cooperative movement, bearing in mind that we have hundreds of qualified cadres who could shoulder the responsibility of running such activity.
