Sacco boards that have been milking member deposits through foreign junkets, doctored accounts, and reckless borrowing are now squarely in the government’s crosshairs.
Cooperatives Principal Secretary Patrick Kilemi, speaking recently during a Sacco Annual Delegates Meeting in Nairobi, said reforms are already moving through the Ministry and Parliament to tighten the leash on errant Sacco leadership.
Kilemi was unsparing on the travel question. Some boards, he said, have effectively converted member savings into a personal travel fund, striking cozy deals with tour companies to justify frequent overseas trips that deliver nothing back to members. He said the ministry will audit every trip, and replace foreign benchmarking with local learning from institutions that are actually working.
Cooperatives Commissioner David Obonyo warned that boards dressing up their numbers to pay out flashy dividends are sitting on a time bomb. He called the practice a “recipe for disaster” and said it cannot be left to run its course unchecked.
The government’s response on that front is to push top-tier Saccos toward auditors with international standing, raising the bar on what passes for acceptable financial scrutiny. Over-borrowing is also on the radar, with certain Saccos having taken on debt loads that no responsible reading of member welfare could justify.
