Sacco moves to avert front office closure

The Kenya Revenue Authority headquarters at Times Towers. KRA has accumulated another Sh3 billion in VAT refunds over the last two months. FILE 

By Samuel Koech

The police sacco has moved to avert closure of its front office operations by raising its shares from 3,000 to 20,000 to attain the
minimum capital base.

Co-operative Development secretary in the Industrialisation ministry Nelson Githinji, said in Eldoret last week that the Kenya Police Sacco was among the more than 60 saccos countrywide that risked closure of their front office operations.

This is because of failing to comply with the requirement by Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) to have at least Sh10 million capital base.

Kenya Police Sacco chairman David Mategwa said that the Eldoret office would be able to serve police officers and civil servants drawn from Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet, Trans Nzoia, Turkana and Bungoma counties.

“We are trying to take our financial services closer to the people and inclining our operations to the devolved system of governance that is gradually taking shape. We are planning to soon establish offices in every county,” said Mr Mategwa.

He further revealed that the sacco which is 41 years old is targeting to register additional 30,000 new members by the end of next year.

Dr Githinji said the cooperative movement is increasingly gaining popularity among Kenyans with more and more groups applying for registration as savings and credit co-operative societies.

We currently have more than 15000 saccos that are fully operational and more are awaiting their registration and approval,” he said.