Plans are already underway for the Co-operative Tribunal in Kenya to be devolved to the county level, where it will have regular sittings, shortening the period it takes to resolve disputes between societies and their members.
The tribunal sits mainly in Nairobi but also holds limited sessions in Nakuru and Mombasa.
The Ministry hopes that by 2014, the Tribunal will sit on all working days in all the 47 Counties.
The Tribunal-whose members will be at the level of judges of the High Court of Kenya has powers to summon and issue debts judgment against those accused. The Tribunal is open to all forms of disputes arising from societies operations, including mismanagement, high interest rates, elections and loan defaults.
In 2011, 872 cases were filed with the tribunal in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nyeri, Embu, Kakamega, Nakuru and Kisumu. A total of 664 cases were determined.