Don’t wait for handouts, societies told

CO-OPERATIVE societies should initiate their own activities instead of waiting for handouts, according to the registrar of co-operative societies of PNG Joseph Ingipa.
He told a consultation for a co-operative development policy yesterday that it was needed so that the activities of societies could move into the formal sector.
“People think that the Government is helping them to establish cooperatives.
“So as soon as they get registered, they get some money. This is wrong.”
He said a new policy should embrace the wantok system, a strong social network and Melanesian way, and cut back on Government being a regulator.
“Cooperative is long rooted in PNG culture,” he said.
“This policy will address these issues. The Government can only establish infrastructure, assist on the marketing, transport facilities, but the actual management must be done by cooperatives themselves.
“We want to see co-operatives becoming autonomous, independent, self-reliant.”
He said the policy was expected to be in place by the end of this year and implemented next year.
There are about 500,000 members of 9,000 cooperative societies but no data to show the number of active co-operative societies.
“That is the issue now, we do not know how many are active.”