the minister of social affairs issued a decision regarding the controls for the work of inspection teams in cooperative societies to improve their performance and tighten supervision over them, to preserve shareholders’ rights. the decision gave the inspection team the right to move to the relevant association, research and review its work and accounts, and audit its financial and administrative status.
it was also permitted to request the data necessary to carry out the inspection mission, and even take testimony from members of the board of directors and employees of the association, and submit a report to the minister.
the issuance of this decision was delayed for more than half a century, but it should come finally than never, and it is evidence of the validity of all our previous accusations against many coops, and that they have become a subject of permanent doubt, after everyone realized that the system of cooperative societies is ruined and corrupt, and there is no hope in repairing it, despite the efforts of many sincere people.
its membership also served as a jumping pad for some to reach the national assembly as legislators, despite all their suspicions. if some of those behind the idea of establishing “cooperative societies” came back to life, they would cry about the bad conditions they are in today, after it was once a pioneering and noble idea. but just as many things have been ruined in the state, the societies have followed them into ruin and deprivation, with the absence of laws and the weakness of desire. government” in punishing those who abused their trust!
some believe that the problem of associations lies in two things:
1 - the majority of its council members, or all of them, do not know anything about how to manage a central market, let alone the management of the association as a whole, and their rejection of the idea of obligating the market to a professional body, and the reason for the rejection is known, and the ministry’s inability to impose it is known.
2 - members of the boards of directors of associations, unlike members of the boards of directors of banks and joint-stock companies, are not required to own a significant number of the association’s shares, so someone who owns shares in it worth one hundred dinars can become its president.
many complain about the high prices of the coops compared to the prices of the central markets, even though the association does not originally aim to make a profit but rather to provide a good service to the people of the area.
also, all of the cooperative''s lands and buildings are provided free of charge by the state, so how can their prices be higher than others, which bear many high expenses that the association cannot bear?
the reason for the higher prices in the association than others is due to the following:
■ almost all cooperative societies insist that the supplier, whom some call a greedy merchant, but he is not, provides free goods worth 500 dinars, for example, if he wants to introduce a new product or product to the market, and this is unfair to the consumer, the owner of the association. the real dealer, not the merchant, will try to compensate for the “compliance condition” by increasing prices from what he sells to other retail stores, which do not demand such an unfair discount.
■ delaying the payment of the merchant’s dues for several months, so the merchant, who supplies the goods to the association, and is aware that its price will be greatly delayed, is forced to bear the price of the commodity with the costs of delaying payment.
■ some coops also delay the payment of the merchant’s claims, and ask him to review the banks with which these associations deal, so that they can pay his bills in exchange for a high discount rate, and this is also ultimately borne by the consumer, not the merchant. there are many other reasons.
the bottom line is that the current system of cooperative societies is not only corrupt but also creates corruption. the evidence is that even the board of directors of a single cooperative society, for seventy years, has not escaped the charge of dismissal due to deviation, the most recent of which was the referral of the entire board of directors of a cooperative society in jahra to the prosecution due to thefts. this means that there is an urgent need to find an alternative system.