Dear Editor,
The Cooperatives Department of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security wishes to respond to correspondence published by Guyana Chronicle on Friday, October 31, 2014 captioned ‘An open letter to the President of Guyana’ penned by Patrick Hamilton of the No 40 Rice Farmers Cooperative Society Limited.
The administration of the Department of Cooperatives wrote to this Cooperative Society in July 2014 requesting copies of their mandatory records to be submitted to the Department since the Society had not been audited for a number of years. Additionally, elections have not been held and a membership update is non-existent.
To date, the Department is not in receipt of any of these records.
In the absence of these records, the Department was not able to respond in a meaningful way on behalf of the Cooperative Society because of its lack of accountability.
It may be important to note that Mr Hamilton had sent correspondence to President Donald Ramotar, dated September 5, 2014 on this very issue and the Ministry provided an update on the failures of the Society to the Office of the President.
Another Society which may be similarly affected because of non-compliance is the Seafield Land Cooperative Society Limited.
Yours faithfully,
Carol Valz
Chief Cooperative Development Officer
Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security