Labour Ministry to provide needed support and assistance to Co-ops

Minister of Labour, the Hon. Joseph Hamilton had committed to provide needed support and
assistance to co-op societies across Guyana. Minister Hamilton made this disclosure during an
exclusive interview with www.aroundtheregions.com.
The minister disclosed that many of the co-ops do not know what they need to do. This, he said
is preventing them from being effective and efficient. He said that several persons are seeking to
form Co-ops when it is really friendly society that they should be doing, while others are seeking
to establish friendly society when its really Co-ops that they should be establishing.
“We have people want to form friendly society but basically it is a co-op, and we have to explain
to them that a friendly society is a benevolent charitable organization. Once you are talking about
profits ad money it can’t be a friendly society. We also have to work with Credit Unions as many
of them are under interim management, but we have to ensure that all the issues of transparency
and accountability are pivotal,” Minister Hamilton said.
Continuing along the issue of transparency and accountability, the Labour Minister disclosed that
he continues to stress that his ministry isn’t prepared to support any Co-op society that lacks
these. He pointed out that he has instructed the Chief Co-ops Officer that nothing should be
signed off if Co-ops fails in this area.
“I have said it throughout the country that we will not support no co-op that people are not
paying attention to accountability and transparency. When people register or they make a request
for a project, whether its funded by Guyana or external sources, they would send the
documentation to the Chief Co-op Officer for her to sign off. My instructions to her is that she
must not sign as she will only sign off on organizations that follow the law,” the Minister
declared.
He pointed out that in his engagement with the Co-ops Societies he would be seeking to have his
ministry sensitize and educate them on what is a Co-op. He declared that that seven families
don’t constitute a co-op. “Co-op is a community vehicle for development and growth. It has to be
more than ten persons of a community, not ten persons of a family, Minister Hamilton disclosed.
He warned persons who are using or attempting to use Co-ops a for their personal agenda or
ulterior motives to be careful, stressing that his ministry will not tolerate such unprofessional and
illegal acts. He said that a review of some co-ops has revealed contradiction to the laws
regarding co-op societies.
“A lot of people want to form a co-op, so the man is the chairman, his wife is the vice chair, his
daughter is on the executive all of that we will straighten it out,” Minister Hamilton reassured.

Drawing reference to Switzerland the Labour Minister spoke about the wealth of this country.
He revealed that the country’s foundation has been the Co-ops, thus urging Co-op societies in
Guyana to emulate Switzerland.
“We have shirt shift co-ops in Guyana, and they have gotten a bad name because of bad
experiences. Co-ops can be pivotal vehicle for the development of communities. I would only
hope that people are taking it seriously and they are creating co-ops to benefit their community
and not themselves,” the Minister urged.
He reminded some co-ops are being formed with the primary objective of executing a project
and utilizing the benefits. “Some people form a co-op just for a project that they want to get
done. After they would have executed their project, they don’t anything after. This cannot and
will not be tolerated as transparency and accountability remains the priorities,” Minister
Hamilton reiterated.