North Kinangop Sub-county Cooperative Officer Anastacia Kimani has urged cooperative societies to ensure that they present detailed and credible financial reports during annual general meetings (AGM) to uphold transparency in the sector.
Kimani said many cooperatives have not been fully complying with International Financial Reporting Standards and Sacco Societies Act No.14 of 2008.
“Many cooperative societies usually present very shallow and undetailed financial statements during AGMs, which raises a lot of questions on the management of finances,” said Kimani.
She urged managements to ensure that members, who are owners of the society, are updated on the current financial status to motivate them to save more and contribute towards the development of their Sacco.
She also told supervisory committees to ensure they present independent financial reports that are objective and fair.
“Supervisory committees are independent bodies within the Sacco. They should not collude with management to present fake reports to make members happy, but correctly present the exact financial status because they are doing it on the behalf of those who elected them,” said Kimani.
She was speaking at Ndunyu Njeru Catholic Church during the AGM of Muki Investment Cooperative Society in North Kinangop Sub-county, Nyandarua.
She added that financial witch-hunt had caused many cooperative societies to decline because cover-ups were possible through corruption.
“Many cooperative societies have fallen because of the behaviour of officials who occasionally misuse resources whose real owners are members,” said Kimani.
She encouraged management to give members a free hand to elect their auditors to enhance transparency and confidence in the activities of the cooperative.
“The auditor should be chosen by members out of the three presented to them during AGMs. It is against the law for the management to appoint their preferred auditor,” said Kimani.
She congratulated all cooperatives which are managed in accordance with the law, further asking them to implement the two-thirds gender rule in electing leaders.
By Peter Otuoro
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