The Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and MSMEs Development Wycliff Oparanya has said that the cooperative bill 2024 which has put corrective measures for the Saccos is expected to become law by the end of the year.
Oparanya speaking during 50 years celebrations of Stima Sacco Society Limited held at Carnivore Grounds in Nairobi said that the government has proposed the sacco society amendment bill which is in the senate urging that it be fast tracked so as to ensure saccos are strong.
The CS said that in the country there are 13,511 Saccos with a membership of 10.7 million people. The asset base is Sh. 2.84 trillion which is 18.7% of the national GDP. The number of Saccos regulated by SASRA is 357 which translates to 2.4%. He said Saccos that are regulated by SASRA have a membership of 6.8 million people whose deposits are Sh.687 billion and loan book of Sh.758 billion.
He added that when he came in as the CS he acquitted himself to the challenges facing saccos and found out that governance and overstaying in positions was a major problem saying that Stima Sacco is lucky as it is one of the best managed saccos in the country.
‘I went to Murang’a and a woman stood up and said that in their sacco, when their chairman came in, he only had a bicycle, now he has several Mercedes and Range Rover vehicles, he also owns a big hotel and has served 27 years. It is important that as a country, we protect our members’ resources and as a government we cannot just sit and watch people misusing their positions and do nothing,’ he said.
He also added that another major problem facing saccos was that saccos are declaring dividends even when they are making losses and should stop borrowing so as to pay out dividends. “You will find saccos are declaring dividends even when they have made losses,’ he said
Another challenge that is facing the cooperative movement is the liquidity ratio which saccos should reserve 15% but SASRA does not have the technology to track what saccos are doing so that they enforce the 15% liquidity ratio.
He said that as a government they are recommending that every cooperative movement embraces technology so that they can be self-regulating.
He said that there must be clear guidelines of capacity training of members because that is the main principle of cooperatives.
He encouraged mergers of Saccos saying ‘Imagine if the top 10 saccos in the country merged they could do big things for the country including developments,”
“Recently I sent a commissioner of cooperatives to go and oversee elections in one of the saccos after complaints were made and the real members of the sacco were not allowed in. Goons were brought in and there was shouting everywhere. We want to ensure that there are fair elections where there are
annual general meetings and the elections will be through a secret ballot of course enforcing the term limit,” he said.
He said that the government will be looking on qualifications of the sacco leadership as there are leaders with low qualifications.
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The CS said that there have been complaints from members of some saccos saying that they are not given refunds of their deposits when they retire and have formed an association of retirees and are moving everywhere to demand their deposits. “The government wants to operationalize a deposit guarantee fund just like in banks where there is a deposit protection fund to cover such an eventuality,”
Rebecca Miano CS tourism and wildlife who served Stima Sacco as the chairperson said that the sacco is the true meaning of empowerment, sense of community and unbending resilience.
Miano said that as the sacco looks upon another 50 years celebration lessons from the past are bound. It is through the power of unity, shared vision and trust that humanity builds sustainable futures.
She said she sees parallels between what they do in tourism and wildlife which is creating opportunities for communities and individuals to thrive and what the sacco continues to pursue. She encouraged Stima Sacco to consider a special product for tourism and conservation.
Saccos should be impactful to members and challenged them to give an impactful story that they have done for Kenyans and support advocacy in the movement and make provisions so that they stand to be counted when the big decisions are being made in the country.
By Felix Wanderi
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