By Peter Otuoro
Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary (CS) Simon Chelugui has said that over Ksh2 billion has not been remitted by various state and private organizations to Saccos on behalf of their employees.
Chelugui said the government will put strict measures to ensure all deductions on members’ salaries are remitted without delay, be they from public or private organizations.
“We cannot sit and watch millions of Sacco members suffering in the hands of some people in the public and private organizations,” said Chelugui.
He said that the top offenders are county governments, public universities and private companies, which have refused to remit the deductions.
Chelugui instructed the Commissioner of Cooperatives David Obonyo to coordinate with the National Treasury to ensure all money belonging to Sacco members is sent directly to their accounts and not through organizational accounts.
“It is very easy to handle this situation. We will ensure that money belonging to Sacco members is remitted directly to their accounts and not through the employer,” said Chelugui.
In very emotional speeches delivered to delegates during a Cooperative Alliance of Kenya (CAK) workshop held at Sawela Lodge in Naivasha, many speakers requested the CS to save them from employers who are holding billions of their money in deductions.
Speaking at the event, KUSCCO Advocacy Manager Mercy Njeru said government entities have refused to pay up, effectively demotivating people from joining Saccos.
She urged President Ruto’s government to take stern action against the rogue employers.
Njeru said the government should not watch helpless workers being victimized by state and county governments.
Kenversity Sacco chairman Prof George Makokha said university-based Saccos were the most affected, being slapped with non-remittance fees that is slowly killing them.
Prof Makokha gave the example of Moi and Egerton universities, whose Saccos he said only government interventions can save as they were on their deathbed.
One of the delegates from Afya Sacco revealed that Ksh500 million had not been remitted by county governments, pointing out that many of them did not process the deductions since the advent of devolution.
She gave the examples of Wajir, Marsabit and Mombasa as the most adamant, letting their employees suffer as they cannot access loans from their Saccos.
CAK chairman Macloud Malonza and CEO Daniel Marube pleaded with the government to rescue them from imminent collapse engineered by employers.
