Abstract:
Dispute settlement procedure is an important aspect in the development of co-operative societies. It is as important as part
of legal infrastructure that requires not only a good law but also a good institutional setup. Although the Tanzania co-operative
law provides for both alternative dispute resolution and court procedure, the qualification imposed on co-operative societies to
access courts of law is a bottleneck towards justice delivery and access to justice. It is an irrefutable submission of this study
that obstacles in accessing justice through a court of law, has negatively impacted the theory of equality before the law against
co-operative societies. A call for reform is made in this study to enable co-operative societies to seek justice through both
alternative dispute resolution and court procedure