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‘Shift from harambees to co-operatives’, Prime CS Mudavadi urges Kenyans
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi (centre) and Ministry of Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya (left) present a certificate of recognition and a trophy to Co-operative Bank Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. Gideon Muriuki(right) for emerging as the top performing non-withdrawable deposit-taking Sacco 2024, during Ushirika Day in Nairobi, on July 12, 2025.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has warned that Kenya’s economy remains exposed to capital flight whenever political unrest erupts—unless anchored on strong domestic savings through cooperatives.
Cooperatives, Mr Mudavadi said, offer a more sustainable and inclusive approach to wealth creation, especially for communities traditionally left out of formal financial systems. With Kenya ranked as Africa’s leading cooperative nation, he said there is an opportunity to build a resilient, homegrown economy rooted in local savings.
“Savings are very fundamental to the growth of the economy. We must continue to grow it, because without savings, a country would not grow. Savings are fundamental to that. Cooperative movements are homegrown,” he said during the 103rd Ushirika Day Celebrations in Nairobi.
Mr Mudavadi said Kenya’s reliance on harambees was unsustainable and that cooperatives offer a more reliable and inclusive financial path.
He warned that without strong domestic savings, the country remains exposed.
“Let us make the cooperative movement a way of life. Let it become an economic religion. Let it become the maker of our economy. That is how strong we can make the cooperative movement. You all know you are called from time to time to go into Harambees. Our most sustainable way is to make the cooperative movement a way of life,” he said.
A strong cooperative base, he said, could cushion the country during such moments.
“If we have a strong cooperative movement the resilience of our economy is strengthened because even in a moment of political challenges there shall be no capital flight. That is how strong the Kenyan economy can come. Because sometimes foreign investment can be very sharp. The moment Kenyans sneeze in the streets of Nairobi some will engage in capital flight,” he said.
Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya called on development partners to stop routing funds meant for small enterprises through commercial banks and instead use Saccos, arguing they are more efficient and closer to the grassroots.
Mr Oparanya said most donor funding targeting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) still goes through banks, despite cooperatives demonstrating better loan absorption and repayment capacity.
“Saccos have mobilised Sh1.2 trillion in savings and disbursed Sh1 trillion in credit, with only Sh200 billion idle. This shows they are not only stable but also more accessible to ordinary Kenyans compared to banks,” he said.
