Trouble rocks giant police Sacco amid governance concerns

 

The Kenya Police Sacco headquarters in Nairobi. [Courtesy]

The Kenya Police Sacco, one of the largest savings and credit cooperatives in the country, is facing growing discontent among its members, who are demanding the resignation of the organization's top officials over allegations of mismanagement.

A section of the members have expressed a loss of faith in the Board of Directors (BOD) and the Chief Executive Officer, and are calling for their removal or forced resignation in a petition seen by The Standard.

They are also demanding a series of forensic audits, including an examination of the acquisition of the mobile banking system known as M-TAWI, Sacco's current financial status, the lifestyle of the BOD and senior managers, as well as a review of all Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs.

In response to the member's concerns, the Sacco's management has dismissed the allegations as "untrue, baseless and not reflective of the principles that guide our operations." The CEO, Solomon Angutsa, in an interview with The Standard, denied that there were problems with the M-TAWI platform, stating that there was only a temporary service outage that has since been addressed.

“We only had a Mobile service temporarily downtime which was addressed, and members are fully being served across all our channels at very good optimal levels,” Mr Angutsa said in an interview.

The Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA), the industry regulator, confirmed that it has not received any complaints from the Police Sacco's members regarding governance or other issues. However, SASRA acknowledged the technical hitch that affected M-TAWI and noted that a long-term solution is being planned.

“SASRA is aware of the technical hitch in the mobile platform that is as experienced but has since been sorted. In addition, we are aware of the planned long-term solution,” Sasra CEO Peter Njuguna told The Standard.

“On your other questions, SASRA has received about 400 complaints from Sacco members over the last 7 months but none from this Sacco whether on governance or other issues. But I hope you have reached out to the Sacco.”

With over 70,000 members and deposits of Sh30 billion as of last year, the Police Sacco is one of the largest in the country. The current tensions have the potential to disrupt the operations of the giant cooperative, as members demand transparency and accountability from the leadership.