By Kephas Ayiecha
Cyber crime has been cited as a major threat to the growth of deposit taking co-operative societies in the country with most of them incurring huge losses owing to inability to procure sophisticated security systems to contain the vice.
This was revealed during Ushirika Day celebrations in Trans Nzoia County recently.
The Chairman of the Trans Nzoia County Co-operative Development Committee Daniel Kitua said most of the cooperative societies have fallen victim to the vice which has drained members’ loyalty.
“The Sacco regulation authority requires that we put in place very sophisticated software for financial reporting and to counter cyber crime but not every entity has the financial muscle to install the systems,” said Kitau.
He further said frequent power outages have been affecting the operations of most deposit taking cooperative societies in the region which have no capacity to invest in back up power systems.
“Technological systems that we use in our operations require constant power supply for linkages to branches and monitoring by our regulators. We are affected by frequent blackouts,” said Kitau who also chairs the Trans County Sacco.
Stakeholders from agriculture producer cooperative societies raised issue with manipulation by processing firms which cash in on their inability to acquire machinery to enable them process their produce.
“We challenge the County Government of Trans Nzoia to assist us acquire milling machines that will enable us to add value to our produce and in turn maximize our returns,” said the chairman of the Chebukaka Farmers’ Cooperative Society Jimmy Wamalwa.
The Dairy sector co-operative societies in the region are also mulling at the possibility of forming a union of the more than 90 dairy cooperative societies to enable them processes their produce.
Officials of housing co-operative societies in the region said they have been unable to hit their targets owing to low capital that has seen them face challenges in purchasing expensive land parcels in Kitale town.
