The Commissioner for Co-operative Development Mr Geoffrey Nja’ngombe has warned that action will be taken against unscrupulous individuals who steal from SACCOs.
He cited the worst affected as those societies which only run back office operations and thus are not regulated by Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA).
He made these disclosures during an Annual General Meeting (AGM) held by members of Hazina SACCO Society Limited, in Nairobi.
Available figures indicate that over 6,000 non deposit-taking saccos are not under strict regulations and therefore left at the mercy of swindlers and corrupt officers.
More than two years ago, the state appointed a task force to draft rules governing non-deposit taking SACCO businesses in Kenya.
Members of this team have already prepared the draft regulations. The members consist of the Co-operative Alliance of Kenya (CAK); the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO); the Cooperative Bank; the Council of Governors (COG); the State Department of Cooperative and the SACCO Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA).
After members of SACCOs, the public, academia, public and private agencies as well as other stakeholders have their feedback, views, and comments on this draft, little or nothing has been heard from the State Department concerned.
In these draft regulations, non-deposit-taking Savings and Credit Co-operative Societies (SACCOs), with deposits worth more than KSh 100 million, will be licensed and supervised by Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA).
At present, these back-Office Service Activity (BOSA) SACCOs are under the watch of the Office of Commissioner for Co-operative Development.
The draft regulations and framework statements of the proposed regulations for non-deposit-taking Sacco business in Kenya, which has already been validated by key stakeholders, now await Presidential Assent and gazettement into law.
“After putting out a gazette notice and inviting views from the public and stakeholders, we have now validated the draft regulations- which will assist us deal with governance challenges and pyramid schemes that have mutated into SACCOs. The spirit behind these regulations is to protect public interest and deal with problems in Saccos before they happen,” said Peter Munya, CS in charge of the co-operatives docket.
He made these remarks on the sidelines of a workshop held at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Nairobi.
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