The government is planning to finalize the Cooperatives Bill that will enhance governance and legal collaboration between the national and county governments.
The ministry is relooking at the Sacco Societies Act to be amend and establish a central liquidity facility and shared services platform to streamline the financial services.
According to the CS Oparanya, Saccos have been sacrificing professionalism and accountability at the altar of huge payments of dividends even declaring huge losses in order to make believe that the Sacco is financially sound when in the actual sense they are struggling.
Note with concern that despite many cooperatives upholding their values, a few have failed to adhere to good governance principles, resulting in financial losses and eroding public trust, this tarnishes the reputation of the entire movement by overshadowing the remarkable efforts of cooperatives committed to improving their members livelihoods.
The cooperative society in Kenya has continued to be the backbone of Kenya’s economy showing remarkable resilience and growth. According to the Sacco Supervisory Report 2023, regulated Saccos have demonstrated significant financial improvement with the sector’s total assets valued at an impressive ksh 9771.96 Billion.
He added that by joining forces, cooperatives can deliver better services, expand their competitive advantage and prove greater returns to their members.
The government is working on a frame work to support the cooperative society in Kenya. The initiative aims to promote transparency and accountability as well as training and capacity building manuals to install and enhance leadership skilled among cooperative members in the country.
The move to facilitate the new bill comes after an increase in cases of cooperative members losing their hard-earned cash to fraudulent schemes disguised as savings and credit cooperative societies saccos.
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According to the KUSCCO Managing Director Arnold Munene, saccos are fundamental pillars of the country’s financial system, sacco are set to thrive with concentrated efforts from all the stake holders to ensure their resilience and success in the future.
However he said that while some saccos have faced some challenges, the overall sectors remains vibrant contributing positively to the Kenyan financial landscape.
He affirmed that KUSCCO and sacco leaders will address the challenges and work with the government in order to build more robust and sustainable sacco ecosystem.
Through enhanced capital retention risk management and adaptive regulatory frame work, saccos will continue to deepen financial inclusion and drive economic growth in Kenya.
“To this end, this forum presents an invaluable opportunity to align our efforts to refine the strategies and reaffirm the movement’s central role in driving sustainable development through this sector.” said the CS for Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises.
By Collins Akong’o.
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