Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has come out with a scathing report on the state of affairs in the cooperative sector in the country. The report claims nearly 47 percent of the cooperative societies are ailing due to gross mismanagement, graft and sloppy monitoring.
Corruption is endemic and members of the cooperative societies are short-changed and cheated. The report cites a media report that says scores of cooperative societies have siphoned off billions of TK belonging to members.
Bangladesh boasts a gargantuan cooperative movement with a network of around 2 hundred thousand cooperative units and a million members. The cooperative sector gives jobs to about half a million people. It has a capital of TK 54 billion and property worth TK 62 billion.
Its contribution to the country’s GDP counts 1.88 percent. The report ” cooperative society management: challenges and solutions for good governance” was recently made public in Dhaka.