CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES ACT – OFFICERS
Commissioner and other officers
- There shall be a Commissioner for Co-operative Development whose office shall be an office in the public service.
- There shall be such number of officers, including Deputy Commissioners, as may be necessary to assist the Commissioner in the administration of the provisions of this Act.
- The Commissioner shall be responsible for the growth and development of co-operative societies by providing such services as may be required by co-operative societies for their organization, registration, operation, advancement and, dissolution and for administration of the provisions of this Act.
REGISTRATION OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES
Subject to the provisions of this Act, a society which has as its objects—
(a) the promotion of the welfare and economic interests of it’s members; and
(b) has incorporated in its by-laws the following co-operative principles—
(i) voluntary and open membership;
(ii) democratic member control;
(iii) economic participation by members;
(iv) autonomy and independence;
(v) education, training and information;
(vi) co-operation among co-operatives; and
(vii) concern for community in general, may be registered by the Commissioner as a co-operative society under this Act with or without limited liability.
Provided that a co-operative union or an apex society shall not be registered except with limited liability.
5. Essentials for registration of a co-operative society For a society to be registered under this Act, it must—
(a) in the case of a primary society, consist of at least ten persons all of whom shall be qualified for membership of the co-operative society under section 14; or
(b) in the case of a co-operative union has at least two registered societies as its members;
6. Procedure for registration
An application to register a society shall be made to the Commissioner in the prescribed form, and be signed—
in the case of a primary society, by at least ten persons qualified for membership of the society under section 14;
in the case of a secondary or apex society, by a person duly authorized in that behalf by each co-operative society or co-operative union, as the case may be, who are members thereof.
The application shall be accompanied by four copies of the proposed by-laws of the society in English and the person or persons by whom or on whose behalf such application is made shall furnish such information with regard
to the society as the Commissioner may require.
If the Commissioner is satisfied that a society has complied with the provisions of this Act and any rules made thereunder and that its proposed by-laws are not contrary to this Act or any rules made thereunder, he may
register the society and its by-laws under this Act.
7. Provisional registration
If the Commissioner is not satisfied that a society has complied with this Act and any rules made thereunder, or is not satisfied that its by-laws conform with this Act and any rules made thereunder, and is of the opinion that steps can be and will be taken with diligence by the persons by whom or on whose behalf the application for registration is made to comply with this Act and the rules made thereunder or to make the by-laws conform as aforesaid, the Commissioner may in his discretion provisionally register the society for such period, not exceeding one year, and subject to its compliance with such terms and conditions and provisions, as the Commissioner may specify in writing to the persons by whom or on whose behalf the application for registration is made.
A provisional registration shall, subject to this section, and to any terms or conditions specified by the Commissioner under subsection (1) entitle the society to operate as a co-operative society, and such society whilst so entitled to operate shall be deemed to be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, and with power to hold movable and immovable property of every description, to enter into contracts, to institute and defend suits and other legal proceedings and to do all things necessary for the purpose for which it is
constituted; and, subject to the provisions of this Act, any reference in any written law to a co-operative society shall, unless the context otherwise requires, include a reference to a society which is provisionally registered.
A society which is provisionally registered shall cause the fact that it is provisionally registered to be stated in legible Roman letters in all billheads, letter, papers, notices, advertisements and other official publications of the society, and on a sign board in a conspicuous position outside any premises in which it operates.
(a) The Commissioner may for good cause cancel the provisional registration of a society, by a notice in writing addressed to the society, specifying the reasons therefor, and such cancellation shall operate as a refusal to register
the society, and the society shall, from the date of service of the notice, cease to
be a registered co-operative society.
(b) At the expiration of the period specified by the Commissioner under subsection (1), a society, if it has not been registered in the meantime, shall cease to be a registered co-operative society.
(c) Where a society ceases to be a registered co-operative society—
(i) the Commissioner may appoint a competent person to be the liquidator of the society; and
(ii) the validity of any transaction entered into by that society during the period of provisional registration shall not be affected thereby.
At any time during the period of provisional registration of a society, the Commissioner, if he is satisfied that the society has complied with this Act and any rules made thereunder, and that its by-laws conform with the requirements of this Act and rules made thereunder, may register the society under section 5, and thereupon such society shall be deemed to have been so registered on the date of its provisional registration, and this section shall cease to apply to such society.
Where a society which has been provisionally registered under this section contravenes subsection (3), the society and every officer, or person who purports to act as an officer, of the society shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding ten thousand shillings, or in the case of a continuing offence to a fine not exceeding one thousand shillings for each day during which the offence continues.
