Isiolo teachers want Sh100m Sacco cash recovered

Teachers have demanded the recovery of at least Sh100 million following the collapse of their cooperative society.

Hundreds of teachers yesterday took to the streets to demand the money they had saved at the Isiolo teachers Savings and Credit Co-operative Organisation (Sacco) that went under in 2014.

The teachers said the department of co-operatives and the national and county governments had ignored them in the past three years.

They marched to the local Kenya National Union of Teachers offices where they ordered branch executive secretary Dade Boru and Chairman Kithuci Mutunga to pursue the issue or be voted out.

The Sacco was blacklisted by the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority in 2014 after it failed to repay its loans to Kenya Commercial Bank and Co-operative Bank amounting to Sh100 million.

Its Back Office Savings Account was shut down in 2014 and the Front Office Savings Account closed in May this year.

During his tenure, former Governor Godana Doyo said the county government was ready to give the Sacco a Sh10 million loan to rescue it from collapse, but only after a thorough audit.

That promise was, however, not met and the protesters urged the new Governor Mohammed Kuti to follow up the issue.

Yesterday, Mr Mutunga said one of the reasons given to explain the Sacco’s collapse was the management's decision to give loans amounting to Sh100 million to members who did not have collateral. Angry teachers said they had been unable to access credit in the past four years and expressed fear of losing their money.

The co-operative society’s liquidity problem could be attributed to poor financial management. Interim officials who took over for a period of six months in 2014 are still in office, according to Knut.