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Govt. returns seized West Dem co-op
Several members of the Belle Vue Cane Farmers Marketing Co-op Society during the meeting Monday with officials of the Ministry of Labour.
A West Bank Demerara co-op society seized by government last week has been handed back to the cane farmers.
Officials of the Labour Ministry disclosed on Monday that there were a number of “technical issues” in the manner the society was taken over by the Chief Co-operative Development Officer (CCDO) last Wednesday.
The Belle Vue Cane Farmers Marketing Co-op Society, controlling over 600 acres of cane-land on the West Bank Demerara area, had been embroiled in accusations by a number of members.
On Monday, officers of the Ministry of Labour, which regulates the operations of co-ops across the country, met with members of the group at Belle Vue office in a general meeting where it was disclosed that Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, had rescinded the order to appoint an interim management committee.
As such, the co-op was handed back to Committee of Management which had been elected. Last week, the Ministry announced that it was assuming control of the co-op following complaints that lands were repossessed and then sold without due process. Chief Co-operative Development Officer in the Ministry of Labour, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, had said that a new management team will replace the current management.
The current Committee of Management had hired a lawyer in a move to block the government from interfering.
At least three members who hold over 30 acres between them had complained that the co-operative is badly in need of revamping.
Last week, Abdul-Jabar said the interim management team had been mandated to restore lands seized from a number of farmers and investigate financial transactions by the co-op between January last year and today.
Additionally, all controversial issues that are troubling the co-op will have to be investigated and fixed, with fresh elections being held in as little as six months.
It was disclosed that the co-op, said to have been established since the 1960s, decided to go to arbitration last year to recover outstanding dues. The arbitration panel then handed down a decision that ordered a number of farmers to pay their dues or face their lands being taken away by the co-operative.
The co-operative seized the lands and later transferred it to another farmer who had reportedly paid the outstanding rates.
Government had announced earlier this year, that it had about 20 co-op societies under investigation for mismanagement.
Several of them were seized and interim management was appointed to fix the problems.
In addition to poor record keeping, there was widespread evidence of lands being seized, profits not being shared and misuse of property.
In many cases, there were not proper financial records and timely elections, with minutes not kept in accordance to regulations.
There are about 1800 societies registered at the Ministry of Labour with an estimated 300 of these being school societies. Only about 40 per cent of the school societies are operating.
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